


Keeping Up With the Joneses

by formosus_iniquis



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Choking, Cunnilingus, Dirty Talk, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, Light Bondage, Light Dom/sub, Misunderstandings, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panty Kink, Pegging, Slow Build, Strip Games, Strip Tease, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-07-24 20:54:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 41,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7522789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/formosus_iniquis/pseuds/formosus_iniquis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gavin Free had accepted there wasn't a lot he wouldn't do to get laid, and even less he wouldn't do for Meg. Which is what got him to this point in his life, competing with his best friends to see who could be the most adventurous. The Joneses were demanding and Gavin wasn't sure he could keep up.</p><p>When attempts to one-up bring them into each other's bedrooms, Gavin's even less sure of what to do when feelings become involved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Meg bounced gleefully at the bottom of the bed. She was perched on her knees, watching him with the kind of intensity that made him feel like prey. Gavin wondered how much longer he could pretend to be napping before she got bored and woke him up, he knew she wouldn’t just go away.

His question answered itself as she bounced another time and whispered, “Gavin.”

He thought about ignoring her, but he’d been living with his girlfriend long enough to know that things would only get worse if he continued to ignore her. 

If he wanted to, he could pretend he didn’t hear her, and she would repeat his name gradually getting louder, but wouldn’t quite shout so she would avoid upsetting Penny and Smee. Then she would crawl up beside him in their bed. A sweet gesture at face value, that she might give up trying to wake him and nap with him instead, but when she got there she would poke her nails in his face until he finally acknowledged her.

So when she bounced a second time, and said his name again, louder now as she stopped pretending to care that he was asleep, he answered. “What, Turney,” he kept his eyes closed and he didn’t sit up hoping that she would say what she needed to and then leave him to get back to his nap.

She didn’t, he could feel her sly smirk through his closed eyelids. “Lindsay and I were talking earlier,” she started and Gavin barely kept from groaning. Gavin loved Meg, and Lindsay was one of his best friends - even if Lindsay weren’t she was still his best mate’s bird - and he loved how well Meg got on with his friends when she got here; but when Meg and Lindsay got together by themselves things usually weren’t so great for him and Michael.

“She was telling me about something she and Michael tried the other day.” This time he couldn’t hold back his groan because he did not want to hear about his boi’s sex life, not really. They joked about it enough in their videos, but it was one thing to hear Michael say he’d rather suck a dick than take one up the ass, it was another thing entirely to learn about his actual sex life.

She shoved at his foot and he cracked open an eye to see the stern look she was giving him. “Shut up, Gavino, she said they both had a lot of fun with it.” He knew he was in trouble now, he could never really keep from giving her whatever she wanted. Especially not when she was giving him that smile, the one she saved for him that made the one she gave the camera seem like a fake shell of a thing, and as she did her voice dipped so that it was a little lower and a little slower, “Can’t we try it just once? We can’t let Michael and Lindsay be more adventurous than us, and no one has to know.”

They could let them be more adventurous than them, Gavin had no problem letting Michael and Lindsay being the freaky ones. He didn’t really care what he and Meg did as long as it meant they were doing it on the regular.

He agreed to it though, because Meg was asking and she promised that no one would have to know but them. 

She apparently forgot just where they work, because Geoff knew within seconds of him walking through the door to the Achievement Hunter office. Once Geoff knew, he made it his mission to let everyone he saw that day know that Gavin was wearing Meg’s panties.

It was a Podcast day too, and as Meg skipped on her way out the door he knew that she was excited by the idea that he would be stuck in her lacy underwear until they could get home after the Podcast. It wasn’t arousal, she was just excited. Like she would be if she were pranking him, or maybe that was just how it looked as they were heading to the car. When he’d been getting ready that morning and she’d handed him that scrap of fabric she expected him to wear all day, and he’d seen her eyes darken as she watched him put them on. 

He thought they’d be late for work, hoped she’d change her mind, and she’d  just drag him back into bed. The thought had him a little hard, not that his chub had anywhere to go, it was barely being held in before Meg’s staring got him half hard. She smiled as she left the room, leaving him to deal with his own cock; but not before running a teasing hand along his hips, fingers passing along the lace as she slipped out the door in her own bra and panties to start getting ready.

The lacy bits were bloody awful, it itched and cut into him wherever it touched his skin. It’s also what finally got him caught by Geoff, who noticed him fidgeting. He pulled Gavin from his chair before shoving up his shirt and pushing down his jeans. “What the fuck are those?” he asked laughing as Gavin yanked his shirt back down to cover the exposed garment.

The rest of the office turned to stare as Geoff caused a damn scene, cackling like a damn mad man as he struggled to ask, “Are those Meg’s?”

Michael had his head cocked as he looked at Gavin, a small smile on his lips and a knowing look in his eyes. No one would know, Meg had said, maybe that was true when Michael and Lindsay had played whatever game this was but they all knew now.

“Made a bet with Turney,” he said, and the laughing continued but at least they just thought Meg was a vindictive. He didn’t need anyone else knowing he was engaged in a sexual pissing contest with the Joneses. At least not anyone other than the two of them, who were sending each other these looks overtop of the other Hunters, communicating with their silent married person looks.

“That’s a hellova bet, boi,” Michael said.

“So what would’ve happened if Meg won?” Ryan asked just as the laughter had stopped coming from Geoff and he was just breathing heavily as he laid on the floor.

The laughing started back again now just a wheeze from Geoff, the comment even earned a small huff from Michael as he shared a look, that seemed significant, with his wife. “You guys are rubbish.”

He told the same story on the Podcast when it got brought up, he added a little detail so Burnie and Gus would leave it alone when he was done telling it. He told them all about how he lost this made up game of Super Puzzle Fighter and he could feel Meg watching him more than usual as he shared his lie live to thousands of fans. 

He stood up when Burnie prompted him to show them off, pulling down the waistband of his jeans so he could show off the lacy torture device Meg had talked him into wearing, he saw her shift in her seat with her eyes stuck on his hip where a small bit of lace was now poking over the top of his jeans. As her tongue darted out to wet her lips his eyes followed, and his brain tried to follow the conversation happening around him. He could feel that small bit of annoying, itchy lace burning into his skin through his shirt as she stared, and he finally saw the appeal that Meg had seen so much earlier. 

He didn’t know why other people did this, didn’t know how Lindsay talked Michael into it - since Gavin couldn’t imagine that happening the other way around - but the extra attention he was getting was doing something for him. He had to admit the fabric was pretty soft too, silky and smooth, distracting sometimes when he’d shift in his seat and it would rub against his dick in just the right way.

He had to turn away, couldn’t keep watching her or he knew something bad would happen, like leaving the Podcast set early for a quicky in the bathroom. He could will away his boner, he wouldn’t be the first to have one on set and he certainly wouldn’t be the last. He could do it if he could stop looking over at her anyway, stop feeling her eyes boring into his skin, it was kind of hopeless really. He channeled his frustration into pissing everyone else off, wanting everyone around him to be as pissed off as he was even if he was feeling a different kind of frustration.

He was off the couch and out of Stage 5 in record time when they called wrap. Meg stayed behind to talk, he could hear her voice as she finished whatever conversation she’d been having with Ashley off stage. He was bouncing in his seat in the car as she took her damn sweet time walking out, taking even longer once she saw the state she’d put Gavin in. She slid into her seat slowly and wouldn’t even start the car before looking over at him to ask, “Did you have a good day?” Like he was a child she was picking up from school, like she hadn’t just listened to him talk for the last ninety minutes on the Podcast.

“Turney,” he said, his voice sounding more like a broken whine as he tried to urge her to start the car, and break as many traffic laws as possible to get him home.

She made a small humming noise, “Guess not.” She did start the car but not before running her hand up his leg, leaving it to sit agonizingly close to where his dick was trapped.

He would maintain until his dying day that he did not whine as it stopped inches below he wanted it to, and not even shaking as the car roared to life.

“Lindsay was pretty impressed with you,” she said, like it was any other drive home and they were talking about their friends and coworkers. She didn’t wait for him to respond, knowing by now that she wasn’t going to get one with as worked up as she’d gotten him, “Said I probably could have started you off with an easier pair for your first time, or at least something a little bigger.”

She waited now, was testing him. He managed a choked out, "Maybe." Really it was the only thing he could manage when all the blood in his body had moved to the space where she was now idly moving her hand in small, nonsensical patterns at the top of his thigh.

She hummed again, a sign of how much she was enjoying this, like a cat purring. "I told her you could handle it, had been doing such a good job at it, and she hadn't seen how fucking hot you looked this morning. Wearing nothing but my panties that are just a little too small, your cute little ass hanging out the bottom just a little, showing off all of you. Cause there's no hiding anything is there Gavino, especially not when you've been half-hard and aching for me to do something with you all day."

Gavin arched up in his seat at that, hoping he could force her hand, or make it move up even the littlest bit. A teasing finger brushing over him would be more relief than what he was getting now.

She smiled, and looked at him for just the smallest second, "I know baby, we're almost home. I love it when you get this desperate for me."

It felt like years before Meg was pulling into their drive, he could hardly think straight with her hand on his leg and her voice husky in his ear. She hooked her finger in the collar of his shirt and pulled him through the house and up to the bedroom. She left him at the foot of the bed, leaving him standing there waiting for her to tell him what to do next. 

She crawled up to the top of the bed, standing on her knees with her hand already massaging between her legs. She let out a breathy laugh, "Don't just stand there, dummy. Strip for me."

He almost tripped over himself in his hurry to do what she asked. He got tangled up in his shirt and almost fell over trying to get out of his pants. He was aching to take off the panties he'd been wearing since that morning, when she held out a hand to stop him her other still pushing in and out of her as she rolled down into her palm. "Leave those on," she said between gasping breaths, she looked on edge already and he didn't know what she wanted him to do or how she wanted him to get her off.

She moaned as the heel of her hand rubbed against her clit, her other hand wrapped in her own hair and tugging. "C'mere," she said, moving so that she could make grabby hands at him.

She moved toward him, getting impatient at how slow he was going. She started moving him into the position she wanted, pushing him so he was sitting at the edge of the bed as she sunk down to her knees in front of him with a wicked grin. "But you haven't," he said, trying to voice his concerns.

She shushed him, running a teasing hand down his stomach before resting her fingers just inside the waistband of his panties. "You're so sweet," she cooed, "but don't worry about me, baby. I wanna watch you fall apart before I get off."

As she said it she licked a line up his cock, still covered by the soft fabric. She mouthed at the head, where it was trying to poke out of the lace, and the feeling of that and the warm, damp fabric sticking to him had him blanking out.

Meg insisted it was one of the best orgasms of her life, Gavin didn't remember much after the half clothed blow job, but was glad she'd gotten off, hoped he helped. Said she was going to have to thank Lindsay for the idea, give her all the dirty details. Gavin thought he should probably care more that Meg was talking about telling one of his best friends intimate details about his sex life, but thought he probably shared more without thinking in a let's play at some point and that's why he didn't care. He thought he should probably voice some kind of complaint that she was bringing up Michael and Lindsay so soon after they'd both come and it killing the mood, but it really didn't. It just gave him a weird feeling in the bottom of his gut when he remembered that Michael had done this at some point, maybe more than once and he'd never known. That Lindsay had told Meg enough about it, enough details that Meg probably could have gotten off at the thought of them, she wouldn't have wanted to try it with him if not. He didn't feel jealous or angry, but he felt a little pervy that his next thought after wondering how much Meg knew about his best friends in bed was let's go again.

Michael came to work with a hickey, low on his collar bone. Gavin wasn't sure why he noticed, or why he could feel himself blush when he noticed his noticing.


	2. Chapter 2

Meg didn’t bring anything knew to the bedroom for weeks.

Gavin was too afraid to ask her about it. Not because he thought Meg would make him do something he didn’t want to, but he was a little afraid she might want to try one of the Joneses more ‘out there’ kinks - and he'd heard of a few that he was too afraid to ask Michael if they were a joke.

She didn't try anything new. 

Meg didn't even tease him, that much, when she would slide on the panties she'd made him wear. Meg didn’t ask him to wear that pair again, or try to get him to wear another pair. He knew she had some, he’d seen a pair in her drawer - not hidden but Gavin wasn’t sure if he had been meant to find them - that were plainly designed for men with more room in places where hers had been lacking.

Gavin was actually getting a little bored. 

He'd never been much for the kinkier stuff, the most he'd done before he dated Turney was try a couple different positions. It'd been enough. He hadn't really cared that much as long as it was sex, but Turney liked to try new stuff. She got bored with the same old after a while and had been slowly easing him into new things, or not so slowly in the case of a wandering finger or two. 

When the panty thing from weeks ago involved the Joneses into that, he'd been starting to think that something was starting like a sexy arms race. Now things were just normal, which wasn't that great, when they even had time to do it between their busy schedules.

So he couldn’t be blamed when he stopped his thrusting, startled, when she looked up at him, eyes hazy and unfocused as she got closer to getting off, and asked, "Choke me?"

"What?"

She moaned softly at the loss of movement, as he stayed fully inside her. Gavin stayed braced over her with one arm while the other stilled between her legs. Meg rolled her body, trying to get him to move again, only managing to push him deeper inside her as his still hand brushed against her clit. She gasped as the movement hit a particularly sensitive spot.

"What do you want me to do, Meg?" He repeated. There couldn’t be any confusion with something like this, Gavin didn’t want to do anything unless he heard her ask for it.

Meg tugged at the hand beside her head that Gavin was leaning on, forcing him to give a small roll into her as he shifted his weight. He thumbed at her clit, teasing, as he moved his hand from between her legs to hold himself up.

She held the hand he was no longer supporting his weight on, bringing it up to her lips a kiss to his palm before moving it so it was wrapped loosely around her throat. "I want you to choke me, wanna try it. Lindsay said she came so hard she blacked out a little."

He moved his hand from her neck, leaning down to kiss her to chase away the disappointed noise she made. 

It gave him a second to think before he had to make a decision. 

Of course this was something she got from Lindsay. He had known this wouldn’t be a one time thing when the Joneses first got brought into their bedroom. He also knew that if this was something he wasn't comfortable with she wouldn't force him; but Gavin wanted to make her feel good, and if Meg wanted to try than he was willing to do it. Gavin wondered if Michael had the same worries he did when Lindsay asked him to do this to her.

"Where do I," he started to ask, "I don't want to hurt you on accident."

She wiggled her hips a little bit, and that small amount of friction felt amazing after they'd sat for so long. He realized that even in that time, part of even being spent thinking about Michael and Lindsay's sex life, his interest hadn't flagged at all, his dick was still very interested in what was going on. Maybe even more so, he felt like he was holding himself back from the edge as Meg ground herself down a few times as she tried to chase her ebbing release.

She grabbed his hand, pulling it up and wrapping it around her throat again. She placed it carefully and he could feel every moan, breath, and swallow she made. His thrusting became shallow as he tried to make sure he hit that sweet spot inside of her with every one, she said it was the best orgasm Lindsay had ever had and he wanted to make sure Meg was close to hers before he did what she wanted.

"I looked it up," she said, "after Lindsay told me, just do what you would normally."

"This isn't exactly normal, Turney."

She huffed, clearly not in the mood for backtalk, "I'll let you know if you're hurting me, I'll tap the bed twice or something."

"I'm not gonna hurt you?"

She smiled, pulled him down for another kiss with her hands cupped on either side of his face. "I'll be fine, just wanna try it. Just let go when I'm done, okay."

He did what she said, did what he'd do normally, pressing down gently and restricting her air. Gavin knew she was close, could feel her clenching around him with each thrust. He sped up his movements now, trying to pull out her release with each roll of his hips. Meg tried to meet his hips, to make him hit that spot even harder with each go, but her movement was erratic.

He watched the rise and fall of her chest carefully, made sure it was still moving even in short shallow bursts as she fought to bring in air.

Her eyes had been closed since he'd put his hand around her throat, and as he could feel her pulse racing beneath his fingers where they rested below her jaw, they shot open as her orgasm was ripped from her. He moved his hand so Meg could pull in a deeper breath and she cried out his name, sounding hoarse from where he'd had his hands around her. 

Gavin came harder than he had since he'd worn her panties.

After he cleaned them both up, Gavin pulled them both to the top of the bed and wrapped himself around her. She was sitting up and smiling, her fingers idly tracing where his hand had been. “It’s going to bruise,” Meg said in a rough whisper.

Gavin startled, worried he’d messed it up and hurt her without meaning too, she ran a hand through his hair to stop his worrying, “Hush, I’m glad. What’s the good in doing it if you aren’t going to have the marks to show it.”

Gavin wasn’t that convinced, but she didn’t seem to care as she was scrolling through her phone. “What are you doin’ now?” he asked, not like he couldn’t tell she had SnapChat up and was angling and re-angling her front facing camera until she was finally satisfied.

“Don’t worry about it, baby, go to sleep,” she said running her fingers through his hair like he was the cat. Gavin watched her send the picture to Lindsay before he closed his eyes.

Meg sent another in the morning when the bruising showed up in full. Gavin felt like shite, until he saw how reverently she touched the markings as she was getting ready. She did cover them up, slowly and with careful hands, sharing a private smile with him in the mirror as they disappeared beneath her makeup - any coloring her makeup didn't cover the scarf she wore did.

“Just so we don’t get any questions,” Meg had assured him, like she could see that last bit of anxiety he couldn’t shake about having left bruises to cover, “you know how nosey everyone we work with can be, especially when it comes to fucking.”

Gavin knew exactly what she meant. Spot the hickey had started as a fun game, something to pick on Michael and Lindsay about when they had first gotten together, but had now become a disastrous way of life for Gavin.

He hadn’t played much, it was Geoff who had started it and Geoff who liked to give them shit about it. Now that they were married it had all but stopped, or maybe Lindsay had gotten more subtle and it had stopped being fun.

Now that no one was playing, Gavin felt like he had a chance to be the reigning champ. He couldn’t seem to stop noticing the marks Lindsay liked to decorate her husband with.

Today was no exception. 

There was one on Michael’s collarbone. It seemed to be there constantly these days, every time the mark started to fade it seemed to return with a vengeance the next day. That was normally the extent of it, but as they started to film for Versus Michael pulled off his jacket. When his shirt tried to follow and made its way up his stomach, Gavin could see a trail of bruises marking a line down Michael’s hip bone until they disappeared beneath his jeans.

When Michael noticed Gavin staring the smug bastard had the nerve to wink at him. Gavin jerked his head back to his editing, not that Michael would say anything about the staring while on camera.

Gavin didn’t know why he was looking at Michael’s hips in the first place.


	3. Chapter 3

Meg was researching, and it had him worried. 

This was a different sort of research than she did for The Know. This was the kind that had her looking at Gavin when she thought he wasn’t paying attention. The kind that had her quickly shutting her laptop if Gavin came up behind her. 

Gavin knew it was only a matter of time before what she was looking up would start to affect him, so he decided to just wait it out. He found himself watching Michael and Lindsay closely to try and figure out just what they were doing that Meg wanted to try.

He didn’t spend long waiting. 

Right as he had given up figuring out Meg’s plans for himself, she slid up behind him. Messing around with Dan in Halo became a lot less interesting when her arms wrapped around his chest and her lips warm against his ear. “I have a surprise for you,” she said, just soft enough so the headset mic wouldn’t pick her up and surprising him enough that he missed his shot, “come upstairs when you’re done playing with Dan.”

Gavin finished the match, then played one more, before he couldn’t stand not knowing just what Meg had planned. He jumped out of the game without a word, not wanting to listen to Dan complain about Gavin bailing on him right before they were about to try for that achievement Dan needed.

He crept up the stairs to their bedroom, sneaking in to get a peek at what Meg had planned. Meg wasn’t in the room when he got there, making his sneaking somewhat pointless, but he did find two silky looking pieces of fabric tied to their bedframe. Meg came in while he was running his fingers over the silky material, wearing nothing but a smirk and the same very small pieces of fabric. That at least explained why she was in her sewing room so late last night and wouldn't let him in - and the last rational thought in his brain once she moved to the other side of the bed to play with the fabric hanging there.

"So I had an idea," she said slowly, like he didn't already know that from what she was wearing and what she was playing with, "cause Ryan won't stop talking about sex dungeons.

He whined before he could stop himself, "Don't talk about Ryan before we’re about to have sex."

She arched an eyebrow at him before setting down the material she’d been playing with just a second earlier, "Who said we were about to do anything?"

"Well your outfit for starters."

"My outfit does not mean I am asking for it," Meg said, her voice teasing though what she was talking about was far from a light subject.

"I know, love," he said hoping to derail her before they ended up stuck on the finer points of consent, "but I was really hopin' that's what you were wearing it for."

She made a small humming sound, "I guess that's what it was for when I first put it on, but then you started talking and now I'm not so sure."

He whined again, a different sound than the last one, now he was feeling teased versus a little peeved that his coworker was getting brought up while his girlfriend was half-dressed. "Turney!"

"Oh all right, you baby. Are you gonna let me finish explaining before you start talking again?"

"Are you going to start talking about Ryan again?"

"I might, he's pretty handsome, you know. Tall and broad and blonde, bet he's pretty built if you got rid of those awful dad jeans."

"Turney!" He tried again, hoping he could hide the fact that the erection he'd been sporting since seeing her in that outfit really hadn't faded even as she talked about the finer points of one of the other hunters.

"What? He is! If he weren't married we could've asked him to come back with us some time, bet he'd do it."

"I'm not going to have a threesome with Ryan!" 

Gavin felt like he should throw something out about how he wasn't gay, but he knew it wouldn't fly with Meg. Knew it would only get him the same ‘sexuality is a spectrum’ talk she'd given him when she'd explained her own bisexuality. A speech he remembered very vividly had a paragraph or two about how that didn't mean she was going to be down for sleeping with random girls just because he thought it was hot. 

Gavin wondered if it should bother him that she was suddenly okay with adding a third for a night when it was another guy they’d be sleeping with, someone he knew. Not that she meant anything by it. The threeway was a joke just like she was kidding about it being with Ryan, Meg had threatened him out of suggesting picking up random girls from bars because she’d had too many arseholes treat her like her sexuality made her nothing more than a chance to watch two girls get it on.

It meant any aggravation in his voice didn’t come from the thought of what Meg was suggesting, but her avoidance in talking about whatever they were using these straps for. 

"Of course not, that's what I just said.” Meg said, rolling her eyes, “He would never since he's married, but I mean if he weren't, it'd be something fun to try."

"You were talking about sex dungeons," he prompted, hoping that would get him back on the path that lead to whatever idea she had.

"No, Ryan was talking about sex dungeons, but that gave me an idea. Handcuffs and leather seemed a bit much for a first time, but the idea seemed interesting. So I looked some things up, and it seemed like the way to finally out do Michael and Lindsay."

"Bondage?" He asked. The surprise at what she was suggesting made it a little easier to ignore that the weird feeling he had when Michael and Lindsay were brought up was different from the one he felt when it had been Ryan.

"Yeah, did I not say that already?"

"You want me to tie you up?" He asked, he could get on board with that, but wanted to hear her ask for it.

She laughed, low and building, "Oh no baby, I'm going to tie  _ you _ up." She paused before getting serious, "but only if you're cool with it. We don't have to do anything you don't want to do, obviously."

"No, no it’s fine," he rushed to assure her, "we can try it."

She smiled, back to being coy and flirty again. "Good, strip and lie back on the bed for me."

He did what he was told, fumbling out of his clothes while he watched her play with that silky fabric again.

He crawled to the middle of the bed once he was out of his clothes, letting Meg’s firm but gentle hands position him before she let the end of that cool, silken material tease the sensitive skin of his wrists. She didn’t do anything but tease before she was asking again, "Is this okay?"

"Yes," he said, wanting to say something snarky but he could barely manage as he felt the material tighten around his wrist, limiting his range of motion already.

"Do you need a safe word?" She asked, a question she'd asked once or twice before but never this seriously.

"No," he assured knowing their game would stop if he didn't answer, "I can tell you when to stop if I need you to."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, hurry, please," he said breathlessly as he tugged at the one wrist she'd already tied, needing to feel the other one pulled back as well. Gavin loved the way he could already feel that tension  in his shoulders, the one that said he would feel this after he’d been untied.

She ran a soothing hand down his chest before moving to the other side and securing it quickly. She grabbed her phone from the side table holding it up to his hand before asking, "Can I take a picture?"

It was voyeuristic in the best way, he didn't even need to ask who she was sending it to, knew it would be Lindsay. They had a rule about cameras in the bedroom, more than one actually, and Gavin knew that she wouldn’t send anything more than his captured wrist.

It didn’t stop his cock from twitching with painful interest at the thought that Lindsay would still know exactly what was happening, and that she would probably show Michael the same picture so they could try. It had been interested since the start and had only gotten more so. "Yes," he gasped giving the permission she was waiting for, sat patiently while she carefully framed the shot and sent it to their friend.

"We're totally winning now," she said. Like Gavin gave a shit, like he could care about anything while he was hard and leaking and helpless like this.

She made a mocking coo, "Oh poor Gavino, all tied up, can't even take care of yourself. You've been wanting to touch yourself since you got in here haven't you?"

He nodded, you always answered a question when it was asked in the bedroom.

She was all teasing hands. A single nail dragged down his arm just enough to raise the hair on his arm. The pads of her fingers dragged down his side. A hand placed just beside his leg, arm brushing it, as she climbed into bed. A single finger dragged up his dick. Just enough to leave him wanting, before carefully climbing up to the head of the bed where he was tied without touching him at all.

“Do you want me to ride you baby?” she smiled as he gasped out an affirmative, “I want to do something first.”

“Anything,” he agreed easily, couldn’t think of anything she could say that he wouldn’t be willing to do.

“I wanna sit on your face,” she said with easy confidence, the idea itself wasn’t that revolutionary, but the thought of her doing it while he could do nothing but lick and kiss until  _ she  _ decided she was done with him, that had his brain short circuiting a bit.

She was waiting for him to agree, “Can I do that, Gavin,” she repeated, “can I sit on your face, so you can lick me open and leave me dripping wet before I ride you until you come?”

“Yes, god yes,” he choked out.

She carefully positioned herself over top of him, the skirt she’d fashioned from whatever fabric she’d had left over from the restraints covering the rest of his face so he could see nothing but her.

He pressed open mouthed kisses on either thigh, wondering idly if this was going to feel better or worse for her with the two days of beard growth he had on his face.

He licked up her thigh before pausing for a second, just long enough to have her whine, before giving one long, hard lick. His tongue probing inside for just a second as it passed before he got to the clit and sucked gently.

Meg was gripping the headboard, could feel it shaking the bed as he licked and kissed inside her and she tried to keep from grinding down on him so he'd go deeper. She was close. So he shifted his attention back to her clit. He switched between hard, broad strokes of the tongue and a gentle sucking. He could feel her trying to pull away but get closer as her orgasm was creeping closer, so he sucked on her a little harder and as she whined he tried something new, carefully scraped his teeth against her clit.

She shouted his name as she came for the first time, crawling off of him quickly and nimbly for someone who’d just orgasmed, he thought.

Or maybe said out loud, cause she laughed, "Not all of us are as useless after orgasm as you."

He huffed and thought about reminding her about keeping up her end, when she came back around the bed with a condom in her hand.

She slid it on him and flipped back over the bed to straddle him in the same movement. She leaned in, face just far enough away from his where he couldn't quite meet her to kiss her with the way his arms were tied. She smirked as he strained against his ties, "Ready babe?"

"Just do it," he said, irritation building at her teasing.

She laughed again, but slid down a little farther so she could seat herself on his cock. She rolled herself up and down slowly, driving him insane as he tried to find the right leverage to make her move harder and faster, but she'd done her research and had tied him in a way that made anything more than an awkward flail nearly impossible.

She gasped as she rolled down, hitting that sweet spot now with every one. He tried to angle himself again and she pushed down on his chest with one hand, making him stop.

She kept her hand on his chest using for leverage and to angle herself. Her other hand sneaking down between her legs to rub at her clit as she moved. "Oh it feels so good baby, like it so much when I'm in charge." He groaned and she laughed but kept her slow, steady roll.

"Turney, faster."

She hummed but didn't change her pace, or if she did she started going slower, rolling almost all the way off of him and stopping before slowly sinking back down.

"Please," he was close to begging, close to breaking, and he could feel his orgasm building in his gut, if she would just move faster.

She smiled and snapped her hips down so he was fully inside her, it made her gasp before she could say, "There, that's how you ask baby."

It only took a few more quick, sharp thrusts before his orgasm finally hit, her second not far behind as she continued to stimulate herself while he was pulsing inside of her.

She made quick work of the clean up, getting rid of the condom and untying his arms.

He rubbed where the binds had been, his shoulders tight from where they'd been held for so long. He would definitely feel that the next day. It made him glad he could spend the next day slumped in his chair and only occasionally feeling that twinge in his muscles. He hoped that might let him avoid questions like, ‘why are you making that face’ and ‘what happened to your back.’ Questions that he would have to come up with answers to.

Meg slid into bed beside him, already changed out of her homemade lingerie and into something more suited to lounging around the house on a Saturday.

"That wasn't bad," she said as she grabbed ahold of his wrist and started to rub idle circles where they were red from his tugging, "but I don't know if it was my favorite thing we've tried."

He had to agree, though he could see the appeal it had to some. He didn't really like how much teasing it brought out in Meg, and he'd never really gotten off on helplessness. "Let's see the Joneses try and top it though."


	4. Chapter 4

They did. 

At least as far as Meg was concerned anyway, and Gavin thought he should be worried at how good his friends were at this game of sexual one-upmanship. He wasn't though, or even a little concerned. 

It didn't bother him at all that his girlfriend was in a competition to be kinkier than his best friend and his best friend's wife. He didn't even veto that much, Gavin was willing to at least try anything Meg brought to him - so long as it didn't involve bodily fluids that weren't normally involved in sex. He knew that both Meg and Michael and Lindsay had enough sense not to try anything they saw on the weirder side of the internet or anything that made it to the front page of reddit. It wasn't like they hadn't found things they'd liked from all of this, even if bondage was kind of a bust, Meg really liked the choking thing enough that he did some research if his own about it.

Michael and Lindsay didn't even top their bondage by much, in Gavin’s opinion, Lindsay told Meg they just gagged Michael. Something Gavin had a hard time believing they’d never had to do before. Michael could over power actual sound proofing with his shouting and Gavin could only imagine how little the notoriously thin walls of their apartment could muffle the sound. 

Like really imagined. 

Like he couldn't look his boi in the eye for a day or two after that particular shower fantasy, and Gavin was pretty sure Meg knew.

But life went on.

Meg tried gagging him, which made the bondage thing even less enjoyable than the last time. Both of them agreed that it wasn't really either of their thing, but Meg kept the ties she'd made just in case they wanted to use the material for something else.

They did. Sensory deprivation was next, she had him take the ties they used for tying him up to blindfold her. It seemed like a dramatic step backward from erotic asphyxiation if you asked him but Meg said she thought it had potential if they tried it alongside something else

Gavin was starting to think she had a list she was reading off of, top ten sexiest kinks or some other buzzfeed shite. 

He was sure of it when her next suggestion was BDSM. Gavin refused at first, thoughts straying to all of the 50 Shades jokes he would have to deal with if anything slipped out about this at work. But Meg’s promise that she just wanted to give the Dom/Sub roles a try had his resolve breaking.

“No chains and whips yet, Gavino, promise. I just want to boss you around a bit,” Meg had said.

Gavin wasn’t sure how he could have said no to that. Except that he could.

Neither of them could manage to settle into a role when they tried, they both switched between the two too much. Really, Gavin thought the issue was neither one of them wanted to be submissive. There was no denying that Meg was bossy in bed, but she gave Gavin more control than he thought she was supposed to for this to work. She couldn’t give him enough control for her to play the submissive either.

It was just enough for it to be frustrating for the both of them.

"Michael loves it apparently," Meg said, as she flopped against her pillow with her arms crossed, sounding a little frustrated that it hadn't worked.

"Well Michael does love shouting at people," Gavin agreed, a little annoyed himself; but they'd tried and this had gone a little more successfully than their gagging experiment.

"No, he was the sub. Lindsay said he was like a fucking natural, did whatever the fuck she told him." He could hear her getting even more irritated, started swearing as often as Michael would.

"You're," he started to say joking, but it made so much sense when he spent more than five seconds thinking about it. Michael was always so eager to do whatever Geoff said, even had an ‘I'm listening Geoff’ voice he used. It wasn't surprising at all that he got off on it.

"Not joking," she said, "Michael said it was the best fucking sex of his life. Said he came so hard he thought he was gonna black out."

"Michael said that? Or Lindsay told you that?"

"Michael said, came over while Lindsay was bragging like an asshole."

Gavin wasn't sure what that feeling he was having was, it felt like jealousy but he didn't know just who he had to be jealous of. 

It was fun and games, when it was Lindsay telling Meg all about their crazy sex, girl talk or some shite. But this was Michael telling his girlfriend all about how he got off on his wife bossing him around and dommeing the hell out of him. And Gavin was pretty sure he was upset that Michael didn't tell him first.

This whole thing was driving him a little mental. 

Not the sex, he loved the sex but now he was so very aware of Michael now. Gavin had to sit next to the man every day, they were already pretty open about things that most people wouldn’t be just because it made good content. Even before all this started he knew a little bit about what Lindsay and Michael got up to - Geoff called Lindsay a vamp for a reason when they’d first gotten together. But now that his sex life was like the freakiest competition he’d ever been a part of, he had learned more intimate details than any of them would even think about joking about in a let’s play, unless you were Geoff and Griffon.

It was making it a little hard to look his boi in the eye, when he could tell by looking at him just what freaky stuff he and his wife had gotten up to. He’d always been good about picking up on Michael’s moods but now he could tell with almost a look just what they were planning on doing that night or had gotten up to the night before. Michael didn’t fidget as often on days when he was wearing panties, held himself different, more proper. Gavin would see that half-smile Michael couldn’t keep off his face and know - and he was always right, there would always be frilly something poking out above Michael’s jeans when he’d stretch in his seat on those days. 

Gavin was just glad that Lindsay spent most of her time in the B-team office or was out of the office in general. Sitting beside Michael and knowing all of this could be almost overwhelming, but the two of them together might be too much. It was a bit like sitting next to a crush in school, you tried your best to be normal, but secretly knew you weren’t hitting the mark. The way he acted with Michael was well-honed through years of let’s plays, but throwing Lindsay into the mix that was sure to throw off his normal charade.

It was just easier to follow Meg’s lead. She was the white rabbit he was following down the kinky rabbit hole - it was a weird metaphor.

Pegging was more successful, not that Meg seemed surprised with her wandering hands and fingers.

It had taken some building to, Gavin hadn't been that on board when she'd first mentioned it, not after the way Geoff had bitched about when Griffon had used that dildo on him. Meg convinced him to try it once, he still didn't know how but Meg was magic and always got what she wanted in the end.

She somehow looked even more gorgeous than usual when she strolled into their room that night, the strap on she'd bought matching her purple and black bra. "I bought a smaller one," she warned, "so this won't be like whatever lamp post Griffon stuck inside Geoff okay."

He nodded and watched, surprised by how eager he was, how it swung when she walked up to the bed. "Did you research this too," he asked as she stood on her knees looming over top of him as he laid there.

"A little, more for the toy than the sex, but it wasn't a huge struggle to watch the porn to get a general idea."

He felt his mouth get dry, this was really happening and now that it was really in front of him he was excited about it. He thought about Michael and Lindsay doing this next, which was a mistake when his next thought was about him taking Lindsay’s place and leaning over Michael, fucking him hard enough that he couldn't record because he'd lost his voice. He wasn't surprised at all that his dick twitched at the thought.

"Somebody's excited," Meg said, her voice pitched low the way it always got in bed.

"Just hurry it up, Turney," he said.

“Bossy,” she teased. “Get on your hands and knees, I want to make sure this only feels good, okay.”

He did what she told him to, feeling awkward as he presented himself to her. All feelings of modesty left as he heard the sound of the lid being snapped open. He shivered as she ran a hand down his spine as the other gently circled his hole. She pressed her first finger in, getting him used to the intrusion before quickly adding a second. She was scissoring the two of them, stretching him out in a way that had him moaning. He didn’t expect to enjoy this so much, Geoff had said it’d felt like burning but the stretch Gavin was feeling was mind-numbingly brilliant. It took him a minute to realize that it was him he was hearing as heard himself chanting, “More, more, need more.”

“So needy, you want to take my dick already babe? It’s small but I don’t know if it’s two fingers small.”

“Don’t care, need it now.”

She ran her free hand in soothing circles along his lower back, “Alright, but you gotta let me know if it starts to hurt and we’ll stop.”

“Meg, hurry please,” he asked. She’d somehow reduced him down to single syllable grunts and small sentences.

She pulled her fingers out of him and he was surprised to hear himself whine at the loss. She cooed at him, something that would normally annoy him but now seemed to fit whatever role she was playing, “Hush baby, I’m gonna take care of you don’t worry.”

She lubed up the dildo, and slowly pushed into him. There was a burn now, as the dildo stretched him out in a way Meg’s slender fingers couldn’t, and he loved it. Loved the way he could feel the stretch as she slowly bottomed out. He didn’t love the way she stopped moving once she was fully seated inside him. “Turney, move,” he said, heard how it sounded like a demand.

She shifted inside him, barely moving, but enough so that her angle shifted and the tip hit a spot inside him that had him seeing stars. “There, that, do it again.”

She pulled out a little farther, and moved in slow, steady rolls hitting that same spot almost every other time. It felt amazing and was his orgasm snuck up on him and he was coming before he even realized he was close. He was clenching around the toy, that was still buried in him, as he came; Meg was still rolling forward slow and steady, and hitting that spot inside him until he was feeling raw and over stimulated.

She pulled out of him slowly, and it left him feeling stretched out and empty in a way he didn’t expect. They cleaned up and Meg was putting her new toy away when he thought to ask, “Did you come?” He was usually better at remembering, always made sure that if he got off she did too, but he hadn’t even thought about it this time.

“Now you think to ask me,” she teased. “There’s a vibe in the harness, managed to get off not long after you did. The sounds you were making were pretty helpful though, Gavino, haven’t heard you get so vocal in a while.”

He huffed while she laughed, curling into his side as they got ready for bed. “Let’s see them top that,” she said. It was times like this though that Gavin wondered if this was even still a competition anymore, would they actually find a point where one of them would win? Would it come when one of them hit a point where they weren’t willing to try something, or would it happen when they hit an extreme that none of them were willing to go farther than. What happened after that?

When this started it had felt like a game, whether it was ‘let’s see what we can get our guys to do’ or ‘I bet I can have weirder sex than you’, it didn’t really matter. But now it didn’t feel the same. At some point they’d crossed into different territory, and he wasn’t sure what it was anymore. 

He wasn’t willing to stop though. As unfamiliar as this new territory was he liked it too much to stop, had a feeling Meg felt the same way.


	5. Chapter 5

"Lindsay asked me if I wanted to come watch," Meg announced one night as they were sitting around not doing much of anything.

He was grateful that he'd already finished his drink because he was certain there would have been a spit take at the sudden information. "What did you say," he asked wondering if his voice sounded as strained to her as it did to him.

"Well I asked if Michael was cool with it first, cause he was standing around kinda awkwardly so I thought it might be a little more Lindsay's idea than his. But once she said he was okay with it too, I said I'd need to check with you."

"Why'd you need to check with me, I'm not your keeper Turney." He said hoping that brash indignation would cover whatever weird feeling he was having because of her request.

She shifted in the couch so she could look at him, a stern expression on her face. "No, you're not, but you  _ are _ my boyfriend and while you might not be a deciding factor on my career or what I decide to wear, this is different. This is me asking if it’s okay to go watch our best friends do it, so yeah it’s something I'm seeing if you're okay with."

“Do what you want, I don’t care,” he said, knowing he couldn’t cover the hurt feelings. He didn’t care that she wanted to watch, didn’t even care that she was invited, but he couldn’t say he wasn’t a little upset at not being asked.

He didn’t know why he cared that he wasn’t invited along, it wasn’t like he had a dying need in seeing his boi and his wife do it. 

Except he really did.

Had been thinking about it more than was maybe healthy. 

Gavin was past the point of sexuality crisis. Past the point where he was concerned about his growing arousal for Michael and Lindsay. He didn’t know if he would call what he was feeling bisexuality, but Meg had told him it was all a spectrum anyway and he was done being worried that Michael was in his.

Meg shifted in her seat so she was facing him, he made a point to keep facing forward, though the game he’d been playing had been long paused. “You do care, asshole, and if this is something that’s going to bug you then I don’t want to do it. I can tell Lindsay, thanks but no thanks, it's not going to bother me or them.”

“But we’ll lose the game,” he said, acting like he cared in some way even though he knew it wouldn't work.

Meg rolled her eyes, "I'm less concerned about some sex game than I am about you. If this is going to make you uncomfortable I don't want to do it."

"I'm not uncomfortable," he said, he didn't mean to raise his voice but it came out as almost a yell.

"Then what's your, oh," she said as she quickly realized what was wrong, "you're jealous."

"'M not jealous of Michael and Lindsay." He said crossing his arms over himself, even he knew he was pouting.

"Not jealous of them, well kind of, jealous that I got invited and you didn't."

"Am not," he was whining now, didn't know how she managed to get him to sound like a child with a few well aimed taunts.

"I can ask if you can come too," she said, already had her phone in her hand.

The idea had him flashing back to a time when his more popular friends would ask if the could bring him as a tag along to a party he wasn't invited to -- or he was sure it would if he'd had a more normal teenage years.

"No," he yelped, reaching across her to grab her phone before she could do anything.

"Okay," she soothed, putting her phone down where he could see it before continuing, "I'm sure they would've asked you if you'd been over there. This is their first time trying this too many people might be weird."

"Don't pander to me, Turney."

"Poor Gavino baby, you sure you want me to go?"

"Go, have fun," he said, refraining from adding the ‘but not too much fun without me’ that he was thinking.

She kissed him, once on the cheek, as close to a ‘thanks, I love you’ as he was getting, "I'll bring you all the dirty details, promise."

Two days later, Meg’s car came rocketing into their driveway with the sound of screeching tires. 

Gavin had been playing on the Xbox as a way to distract himself from what he knew she was doing. She had dropped him off at home after work, before heading over to the Joneses. He'd had trouble focusing in whatever first person shooter he'd loaded up, mind focused on imaging just what his girlfriend was doing. He had the system turned off and was practically waiting for her at the door when he heard the tires in the drive.

"Need you here, now," was all she said, an order he wouldn't and couldn't disobey as she grabbed the collar of his shirt and dragged him along behind her.

"Have a good night, Turney," he asked as she shoved him down on the couch.

"Like you wouldn't believe, baby, I've been ready to go for hours."

He tried to swallow but found his mouth was dry. It didn’t take much more than a gentle shove to get him to fall back down on the couch. Meg looked predatory as she leaned overtop of him, knees bracketing him on either side of his legs. "Did you?" He tried to ask, not sure if he was even sure what he wanted to know.

"Did I what?" She purred, "did I participate? No, it was a hands off game this time." Gavin shuddered at the way she said this time and the way she was pressing hot open mouthed kisses to his mouth and neck between every few words, it held the promise of times after this. He was hard and aching in his jeans, had been since she pushed him through the door.

"Did I come in my panties like a teenager after her first bump and grind?” she asked keeping up her stream of conscious as she spoke for Gavin, “No again, but I did have to stop and get out of them, they were practically ruined." Gavin groaned a little at the thought her so wet she was almost dripping as she watched Michael and Lindsay, her refusing to touch herself until she got home but having to stop and shimmy out of her panties that were so wet she couldn't stand to be in them anymore.

The thought left him straining against his zipper and she batted his hands away as he reached to fix the problem. "You know," she said in the forced conversational tone of someone who was leading to something, "you were pretty spot on with that Internet Box hypothesis."

"What are you on about," he asked upset at the sudden change in conversation, but pleased that she'd relieved some on the pressure on his dick by popping his fly.

"I mean I haven't seen the other Hunters' just you and Michael but..."

It suddenly clicked just what she was talking about and he moaned loud enough that he actually felt a little embarrassed. She just smiled as she rolled against him, both of them still mostly in their jeans but looking for friction. "They were very worried about putting on a good show," she continued, "Lindsay was very insistent on being a good host, making sure that," she cut herself off as she groaned at the memory, it didn't take him long to realize she had her hand in her pants and was working herself open at the memory. "Making sure that Michael was a good boy and put on a good show."

Gavin whined at the thought and Meg grinned leaning down to kiss him, gasping as the motion had her bumping that sweet spot inside her. "He's so good Gavin, and quiet too. You think he'd be loud, but it's just soft gasps and moans and he only talks when he's asked a question or he’s told to speak."

Gavin had a hand on his dick now, pumping slowly with each word, trying to match the speed that her fingers were moving in and out of herself. "You know what we have to do to out do them right?"

He groaned, his movements not faltering as he answered, "I'm not having a three way with Ryan."

"Never said any of those words, glad you're on board for the three way though. I was thinking we bring in Michael."

This had his hand stuttering and she smirked at him, she pushed his hand away and replaced it with the one she wasn't working in herself. “He looks even better now that he's been working out, and he's so eager to please, bet he'd been even better if it was his boi."

Everything was too much and not enough all at once, he was close to begging and she could tell. "Know how much you liked pegging but he liked it even more, Lindsay brought out all sorts of toys for him to play with. Sucks dick like a champ, bet you've already thought about what his mouth would look like stretched around your cock. He'll moan for it too, loves it, just think how pretty he'd look choking on your dick while he takes mine from behind."

Gavin thought he was going to die, Meg's hand on his dick was moving too slow and her grip was tight enough he knew she was doing it on purpose to keep him from coming. God he wanted to so badly, as she described each filthy fantasy.

"Or would you rather pound into his tight ass while he eats me out, he'd be begging for it, if you wanted him to, and all while Lindsay watches cause you know that's the only way he'll come over."

She gasped both hands stilling until his groan had her moving again, "Oh, or he can't come until Lindsay says he can, he'd love taking everything you can give him and making sure he does such a good job making everyone else feel good, before he can feel good.”

Between the images she painted herself Gavin thought of some more, Michael on his knees in front of him, face painted white as he pulled off Gavin’s cock right before he came down Michael’s throat. She disrupted his thoughts as she shoved him, “Can’t get off like this, I need you inside me now.”

Gavin was close already, could probably come with very little help if she would just keep moving her hand,  but he definitely didn’t want to leave the couch to move to the bedroom. “We don’t have anything down here,” he said.

She pulled a condom out of her pocket as she shimmied out of her pants, “We’ll have a box in the car now, for emergencies.”

She shoved his pants down to his knees and slid the condom on in a practiced motion. She sunk down onto him and started moving slowly, slowly picking up the speed as she kept talking, “Or maybe we’ll take them into work, I could hide them in my desk and we could fuck in the Achievement Hunter office when everyone is gone for lunch.”

Gavin stuttered, pushing his hips up to meet her trying to make things faster and harder. She used what little room they had on the couch to hold him down, to keep him from doing anything she didn’t want him to. 

“That office never really does get empty though does it, what are the chances you could get everyone but Michael and Lindsay out of there, think you could keep quiet enough that they’d stay in the build office while I ride you on the couch? Or would you rather have them watching? Michael palming his dick while he watches from his chair, while me and Lindsay tease you.”

He was coming before he could do anything about it with Meg following not long behind, which he was sure had more to do with her own dirty talk and less to do with anything he did. She was breathing heavily as she lay down on his chest, he could feel her smile as she nuzzled into his shoulder, and he had a feeling they would end up asleep on the couch that night. 

“We definitely need to do this,” she said, sounding sated but certain, “the sex is gonna be amazing,  _ and  _ there’s no way they can out do us.”


	6. Chapter 6

Meg left him to sort out the details, because she was a demon who filled his head with ideas of fucking his best friend senseless while his wife watched and then left him to sit right next to the man. 

Every time Michael grabbed Gavin’s arm or gave him one of those smiles with the dimples Gavin’s heart dropped out of his chest, and he couldn’t find a way to ask that simple question Meg had given him.

Every day he couldn’t manage to ask Michael to join them for the night, Meg would add one more fantasy to flash too when Michael would touch him at work. 

Him fucking Michael, Michael fucking him, him and Michael and Meg, him and Michael and Lindsay, the four of them together in every combination she could come up with and in every scenario she could come up with. Gavin learned very quickly that Meg was agonizingly creative.

She gave him an ultimatum one day, “Gavin, if they beat us in asking for a three way I will break up with you. I am not losing to them.”

He brings it up in a video, because he almost can’t look Michael in the eye anymore without him feeling like his heart was in his throat and his dick could cut diamond. So he brings it up in a video because then he can pretend like it’s another one of his weird hypotheticals, instead of something that could potentially ruin his friendship with Michael forever.

“Is there anyone you wouldn’t have a three-way with?” he asked, familiar enough with the group he was asking the question to that he had a pretty good idea of where the conversation would go.

There was the usual grumbling that always came from one of his hypothetical questions being asked and he could feel Michael’s eyes on him as the rest of the hunters started to actually think of an answer to the question.

“Anyone in the world or anyone in the company?” Geoff asked.

“The company,” Gavin answered, glad that like he expected the conversation went exactly where he thought it would.

“Well we all know what Ryan’s answer is,” Geoff said, “but I wouldn’t fuck any of you dicks.”

Gavin rolls his eyes, Geoff got the biggest kick out of the Meg and Ryan jokes and was doing his best to ride the joke into the ground. A joke that was starting to hit a little closer to home than Geoff realized, since Meg had been hinting that if all this shit with Michael and Lindsay didn’t pan out they could try something with Ryan.

“You brought this shit up, Gav,” Michael said, as quick to call him on avoiding his own questions as Gus was on the Podcast, “who are you fucking in this threesome?”

Gavin felt like his face was on fire. He really hadn’t thought this through when he’d brought it up. There wasn’t a chance in hell that Kdin would edit it out at this point, and even if he did try, there wasn’t a chance the guys would let it go and any editing could make it even worse. “If I’ve gotta pick between you mingy pricks, I guess I gotta pick Michael.”

The room erupts again in the expected ribbing. “Oh, Micoo,” Jack mocked in his high pitched impersonation of Gavin’s voice.

“Mavin is making it’s triumphant return, you’re welcome tumblr,” Ryan laughed.

Geoff just started cackling, “The whole damn company, and you pick Michael? Even if you were just picking from this room you could have gone with his wife.”

Gavin laughed, let the moment get played off as another ‘Gavin’s such an idiot’ moment, but he saw the look on Michael’s face and knew he’d been a little successful in what he intended to do.

Surprisingly, it was just him and Michael left in the Achievement Hunter office for lunch. He had a feeling that Michael sent Lindsay out without him so that they could have the talk they were building to - he also had a feeling that Lindsay and Meg were probably together plotting somewhere.

“So Gavvy, you wanna get it on,” Michael asked, smirk pulling at his lips.

“I don’t, we, I mean,  _ Meg _ it was her idea,” he was stuttering and felt like he was flubbing more words than Ryan in a Minecraft Let’s Play.

Michael’s smirk just pulled wider, and the bastard looked pleased about all of this, “Don’t get bashful on me Gavvers, I’m up for it; but only if Lindsay gets to watch.”

Gavin nodded so quickly he thought he might hurt himself, “Yeah, fine.”

Michael bit at his lower lip as he grinned one final time at Gavin, “Great, we’ll see you tonight.” He left the room with that running a teasing hand along Gavin’s shoulders as he went. Gavin was ready to call bullshit on whatever Meg had been going on about with a submissive Michael, because the man had been almost predatory in the looks he’d been sending Gavin as he watched him stammer through his invitation.

Meg’s only reply was an ‘about time’ when he let her know that the Joneses would be joining them that night.

It was rare that things really went Gavin’s way, he thought that it had something to do with all the luck he’d had in other bits of his life with his perfect job and beautiful girlfriend, so he was fine that he had some shit luck in the other parts of his life. Things seemed to be shaping out surprisingly well for him now. 

It was a Friday, which meant that they had the weekend to get over any awkwardness this might cause, and with both the Joneses coming, well that just meant they could drive themselves there and home. Which meant he wouldn’t have to try and fill any awkward silence while Michael was in the back of their car.

He could instead use the drive home to stress out to the point where he was actually bouncing in the passenger seat as they got stuck in the Austin traffic. “Gavin,” Meg snapped as she got sick of his leg bouncing shaking the entire car, “you can walk the fuck home if you don’t cut it out.”

He wouldn’t apologize, it was her damn fault he was like this in the first place. He turned to face the window and for a second watching the unmoving landscape worked to distract him, and then his mind started to wander again and he started to think about who was coming over. As his mind drifted he started to fidget again, his hands tapping mindlessly on his thigh and then moving to the dash of car. Meg snatched one of his hands and held onto it tight, he winced a little as the bones of his hand ground together and she loosened the grasp but kept her hold on his hand. “Listen, if they weren’t into this, they wouldn’t have agreed to come. So calm the fuck down, we’ll be home in a few minutes.”

His wonderfully, terrible girlfriend wouldn’t let him get bevved up before Michael and Lindsay showed up, said there wasn’t a way in hell she was going to let him get drunk before they tried this; but she let him have  _ a  _ beer. Knowing him well enough that the night really wouldn’t go anywhere if he were completely sober, and giving him the beer to nurse would give him something to do with his hands.

He jumped at the knock at the door, leaping up from the couch standing awkwardly while Meg actually took care of things. She answered the door and the two walked in, both looking sickeningly good after changing from what they’d worn to work, and even worse they looked completely comfortable with where they were and what they were doing. Comfortable enough that Michael didn’t have a problem dropping a kiss on  _ his  _ girlfriend’s cheek before smiling wide enough at Gavin that it showed off his dimples. Gavin couldn’t even be mad at his boi or even jealous that he was putting his lips anywhere near her; he could, however, feel really jealous at how easily the Joneses seemed to be handling this.

Michael looked at Meg, “Are you sure he’s cool with this? He looks like he just swallowed his tongue.”

“I’m the one who invited you, you pleb,” Gavin managed to say, finding his voice just in time to sound annoyed.

Lindsay made a tsking sound, “You upset him, Michael is that anyway to treat your boi?”

“Fuck you,” Michael said.

“Hmm not tonight, Meg and Gavin invited you over to play I’m just here to watch and make sure you’re good.” She smiled and Gavin watched her press an open mouthed kiss to his lips and turning Michael to face him and Meg.

Between Michael’s somewhat dazed smile, Meg’s predatory grin, and the single beer he’d had earlier a switch had been flipped in Gavin and Lindsay must’ve noticed. She winked at him before giving Michael a shove in his direction. He could feel Meg grinning, was familiar with the feeling of Meg’s smile especially when it was coming from behind him like this, could always feel when she was happy for getting her way. She was smiling but waited until Gavin made his move first, though he could see her itching to touch.

Michael fluttered his eyelashes at Gavin, a deliberate move to tease him, “C’mon Gavvy, you’re the one who invited me over. You don’t wanna tease me, do you?”

It was enough to push Gavin into moving. He wrapped a hand around Michael’s bicep, remembering how in shape Michael had gotten and how Meg had promised he was even more fit than he used to be, and admired how the gesture was enough to get the man to tilt his head away from Gavin; it was like he was used to the gesture being followed by an attack to the neck, then Gavin remembered who he was married to and realized he probably was. The obvious sign of submission was almost too much for him and he took the opportunity that Michael presented.

He couldn’t resist pressing a hot, open mouthed kiss to the man’s neck and reveled in how it made Michael shiver.Gavin moved up from the base of his neck to his pulse point, sucking and biting between kisses, careful to not leave a mark even knowing that it wouldn’t look out of place on Michael’s body. He could tell it wasn’t enough for Michael, who was used to Lindsay who left marks that could last for days and Gavin’s were barely enough to even show up on the man’s skin at all. Gavin could feel Michael’s pulse jump under his tongue as he surprised the man with a swipe of his broad tongue along the pulse point.

The soft moan that slipped out of Michael’s mouth was delicious and Gavin felt his fingers tangle in the man’s soft curls, moving Michael’s head with a gentle force so he could press a heated kiss to his lips. He was amazed at how willing the fiery man was to let Gavin have his way with him, let Gavin take his lower lip between his and suck and bite at it until he was sure it would be red and swollen. He pulled away to admire his own work, grinning shamelessly as Michael followed him with an almost inaudible whimper. Michael’s mouth was delightfully red and swollen like he’d hoped, red marks on his neck that would be gone before the end of the night.

Meg’s fingers ran gently along Gavin’s collar and down his spine, causing him to shiver and he was thrilled to find Michael mimic the action. She hooked her chin over his shoulder, a quick kiss to his jaw before she whispered, “Having fun, baby?”

Gavin nodded, humming in answer, pulling slightly where his fingers were still tangled in Michael’s hair just to watch how he reacted. A breathless gasp, passed his lips and Gavin could feel Meg’s smile again, “He’s so pretty like this isn’t he?”

“Bet he’d look better in our bed,” he said.

Meg’s laugh was breathy, “I bet you’re right. What do you want to do with him when we get there?”

“Thought I’d let him suck me off while he takes your cock,” Gavin said, not missing the way Michael’s eyes lit up at the suggestion.

Meg  had one hand on his shoulder and the other was tangled with Lindsay’s as the other woman watched what was happening silently. “What a good idea, Gav.”

“What do you think, love,” he asked Michael. The man nodded furiously and Gavin tsked, “Gotta hear you, boi.”

Michael whined and Lindsay chimed in, “Gavin wants to hear you babe, be a good boy and give him what he wants.”

“Please, Gavin, Meg,” Michael said, breathless already and from so little attention, “please I want it.”

“How could we resist when he’s begging so nicely,” Meg said, fingers playing with the hair at the back of Gavin's neck now.

“I don’t know,” Gavin said, pretending that he wasn’t going to do exactly that as he untangled his fingers from Michael’s hair and moved it to his waist.

Meg stifled her giggle in his shoulder, starting to lead Lindsay up to their bedroom. She stopped as Michael jumped forward to kiss Gavin with quick, needy insistence, “Please, please, Gavin, I want it.”

Gavin groaned, he didn’t think he was gonna be able to let go of Michael after this, hadn’t expected anything like this when Meg had suggested it. Meg had promised that Michael sucked dick like a champ, had gone into detail the way his lips looked stretched around Lindsay’s strap on the day she’d gone to watch, and now Michael was begging to take his. It was going to be hard not to come early with thoughts like that. 

“You know where the bedroom is Michael,” he said, not missing the groan as he stepped away from the man, “go help Meg get ready.” He looked between the three of them, looking for permission from someone other than Gavin before he left. Meg’s hand tangling in his as she let go of Lindsay’s was enough. She giggled as she let herself be dragged along by the man while Gavin grabbed Lindsay’s hand, holding her in place while they fondly watched the two of them leave. 

“You sure you’re okay with all this?” he asked, still feeling just the smallest bit of something about her watching him get it on with her husband.

“Wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t, Gav,” she said, giving his hand a comforting squeeze, “I’m more than used to watching you dick around with Michael.”

“But this is,” he started to say different, but up until this point it really wasn’t that different. Michael had almost made out with like half the company since starting with Rooster Teeth, most of that had been with a camera on him but Gavin had had his face buried in Michael’s neck more times than he could count when they hadn’t had a camera on them, most of them had been while drunk, but he couldn’t deny that he liked getting close with his boi even while they were sober.

She shook her head, a fond sign of exasperation, “Go rock his world, dumbass, I don’t mind sitting out this time but you wait until it’s our turn.”

She sent him away with her lips to his cheek, something he almost didn’t notice when it was followed so quickly by a smack to his ass to get him moving to the bedroom. Gavin hadn’t thought about what would come after this, he guessed he just assumed that they would win with this threeway and then nothing would really come out of it again. Even Gavin couldn’t figure out how he thought he’d be able to go back to how things were after he’d heard the sounds Michael could make. 

Michael had always had a way of turning his life on its head.

He heard the panting and moaning before he even opened the door, Lindsay was following right behind him and sauntered into the room while he stood staring in the doorway. She sat in the chair in the corner, that Meg had moved just for the girl. It gave her the perfect view of what was happening on the bed in front of her, the view that had stopped Gavin in the door. Of Michael, on his hands and knees in the middle of their bed, with his ass in the air as Meg worked him open, strap-on already sitting snug on her hips while she sat on her knees at the foot of the bed.

He was writhing on the sheets, hands tangled in the material as Meg teased him open. Her other hand was tracing patterns into the small of his back and Gavin was positive that she was whispering a monologue of filthy things into his ear as she did. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what she said that had Michael whipping his head to look at him with a look of desperation that Gavin had never seen. 

She was still moving her fingers inside of him, and curled them just enough to wrench a toe curling moan out of the man as he squeezed his eyes shut and tightened his grip on the bed. Meg looked pleased, like the cat that got the cream, as she tried to get him to make that sound again and Lindsay let out a huff that was a lot like the one her husband would use when he was too content to make a sound.

It was enough to make Gavin want to get in the action again. “Eyes open, love,” he said, a finger under Michael’s chin gently lifting his head to look him in the eye.

His eyes flew open, whiskey brown eyes darkened with lust, it was a beautiful sight. “I think Gavin has too much on,” Meg said, running her nail down Michael’s spine Gavin watched, fascinated, as it made his hair stand on end. “Don’t you agree, Michael?”

He nodded again, eyeing Gavin up and down, eyes lingering on the bulge in his jeans. “Use your words, Michael, wanna hear you,” Gavin said.

“Please Gavin,” he begged, “I need to see you.” 

He pulled his shirt of, startling at the whistle from the end of the bed, Lindsay winked and the sound had Meg laughing. He rolled his eyes, sticking his tongue out at the two girls at the end of the bed, but Michael's staring had him hurrying to finish undressing to get things started. "Keep your tongue in your mouth if you aren't gonna put it to good use," Meg teased.

He stepped away from Michael and moved so he was beside her. His hands tangled in her hair as he put his tongue to good use, licking his way into her mouth.

“Gavin, Meg,” Michael whined. Meg’s hand had stilled as Gavin had started to kiss her, he could see Michael rolling his hips to try to get some movement again. Gavin pulled away from Meg, letting his hand drop from her hair, and she gave him a teasing wink.

Meg went back to working Michael open, two fingers scissoring in and out of him quickly. “Michael, do you even need prepping? Or has Lindsay fucked you open recently enough that we can go in like this?”

“He got excited when Gavin asked him over to play,” Lindsay teased, Gavin thought her voice was huskier than usual and it sent a shiver down his spine. “There was some prepping before we came over, hope it doesn’t ruin your fun.”

Meg laughed, “We can save the foreplay for another night.”

Gavin watched her lube up the toy with fascination, he’d yet to move from her side. “Gavin, you promised Michael all sorts of naughty things, you could at least go fill his mouth like he wants you to,” she said.

Gavin wasn’t getting nervous, but he knew they were close to tumbling past the point of no return, if they hadn’t already. “What’s his..?”

“No safe word,” Lindsay answered for Michael, “just colors. Red for stop, yellow for slow down, and green is okay. He’ll tap the bed twice if his mouth is full.”

“Where you at, Michael,” Meg asked.

“Green, fucking, green. Just somebody fucking do something,” Michael pleaded.

“You heard him, Gav,” Meg said, her voice sweet and dripping like honey.

Gavin stepped away from Meg and moved back toward the headboard where Michael was facing, he wanted to watch Michael’s face as Meg slowly sank into him. He could feel Michael’s eyes following him when he got close and he began to stroke himself to full hardness. He crawled onto the bed, standing on his knees in front of Michael, and watched over the flat, freckled expanse of his back as Meg slowly pushed into him. His groan mingled with Michael’s as her hips drew flush with his ass and she stilled.

The room grew quiet and Gavin found himself painfully aware of Lindsay’s hungry gaze at the end of the bed as she watched them and painfully hard because of it. “Your turn, Gav.”

He choked on his own inhale as he looked down to see Michael lick his lips, looking at Gavin like a starving man looked at a feast. He moved a step closer, letting himself bring a hand up to Michael's face and tangle in his hair. Gavin felt like he was on fire as Michael moved forward off of Meg’s cock to mouth at the head of his.

The wet heat of Michael’s mouth enveloped him, and he slowly sank deeper on to his cock, Meg was rolling her hips in small thrust as she chased the friction she needed. She would hit that spot inside Michael with every couple of thrusts, Michael’s moan muffled and sending a shiver down Gavin’s spine with the vibrations through his cock. He pulled off of Gavin, leaning forward to lick a line up the base before the hand Meg had on his hip helped him slam back down on her. His moan echoed deliciously in Gavin’s ears.

Michael looked up at him suddenly, a seriousness in his lust filled, brown eyes, “If you two assholes Eiffel Tower me, I’m gonna bite your dick off.”

Gavin couldn’t help but tear his eyes from Michael’s face to see if Meg heard his sharp request, to see if she had something to say. She wasn’t looking at either of them, too busy with Lindsay who had gotten up from her chair while Gavin had been distracted by Michael’s mouth. One hand cupping Meg’s face, tangling in the hair that was falling there, her other hand cupping her breast, two fingers pinching and rolling her hardened nipple. Her gasps and moans swallowed by Lindsay.

“Don’t think it’s something you have to worry about my lovely little boi.”

Gavin used the hand he had in Michael’s hair to steer his gaze back to the girls, thinking they should all get to appreciate the sight. Meg wearing nothing more than her harness with her hand clutched in Lindsay’s shirt to keep her from moving away. The moment of her hips almost an afterthought, erratic and with no real rhythm.

Lindsay used the hand on Meg’s face to move her around, tilting her head so Lindsay could get access to her neck. They shared a look and a nod before Lindsay bit down on Meg’s neck, Gavin’s fingers tightened in Michael’s hair, drawing twin whimpers from them both. Gavin’s cock throbbed painfully between his legs at the sound.

It was gentle but firm hands that pulled at Michael’s hair making him turn his head back to Gavin. He let his hand go slack, his thumb catching on Michael's red, swollen lips and Gavin watched in heated fascination as Michael drew his thumb into his mouth and sucked, letting his tongue run over the sensitive pad. He could feel the wet heat of Michael's mouth and hear the panting gasps Meg was making as she got closer to overstimulation, could see her thrusts get rougher as she tried to spur the two of them along.

“Michael, why don't you finish off Gav so you can come,” Lindsay's soft order like a tug on a leash, leading them back to where they were supposed to be going.

Michael pressed a kiss to the head of Gavin’s cock, a coy smile and a wink his teasing response to the way Gavin choked. It felt like blissful agony as Michael slowly swallowed him down, moving farther down with each bob of his head until he had taken Gavin in completely.

Gavin had been on edge most of the night, the low, coiling heat in his stomach there since he saw Michael writhing under Meg's hand. It didn't take long before he was tugging at Michael's hair, trying to make the words to warn him, but Michael kept sucking and swallowing around Gavin, bobbing his head and pressing his tongue with light pressure along the bottom of his cock. He took Gavin to the base, swallowing around him as he came with a soft whine, pulling off only when Gavin pulled at his hair, the feeling of Michael's mouth around him edging him toward overstimulation to fast. 

Meg pulled out as Michael pulled off, Lindsay helping her take off the still faintly buzzing harness as Meg fell to the side of the bed, too spent to do it on her own. “Gavin,” she said, he was familiar with the quiet edge of command her voice had in it, “help Michael get off, make sure it was as good as he was.”

Michael had rolled off of his hands and knees and pushed himself up to the top of bed, he used it so he could sit up now and had his head thrown back against their headboard. He had a hand wrapped around his weeping cock and Gavin watched as his hand slowly stroked himself. “Wrap your hand around his, Gavin,” Lindsay said.

He hurried to comply, and crawled over to close the small gap that had formed between them. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, but Gavin wrapped a hand around Michael’s and a gentle squeeze made him gasp. His other hand settled naturally to cup the back of Michael’s neck, a firm pressure that Michael melts into. Gavin used his hand to move Michael’s in slow even strokes, his grip around Michael’s hand making sure he kept a tight grip around his dick.

He kept Michael’s hand moving tortuously slow, using it as a chance to draw out every moan, whimper, and gasp that Michael can make. Gavin let his thumb swipe over the head of Michael’s cock on every upstroke, the hiccupy gasp he made each time Gavin did was sweeter than any sound he had ever heard. He stroked faster, trying to get Michael to climax, and his head made a dull thud as it made contact with the headboard. Gavin’s eyes trailed down the pale expanse of Michael’s newly exposed neck, “No one would notice if you marked him up a little,” Lindsay said, “y’know if you wanted to.”

Wanted to, now that it was an option he didn’t want anything else. Gavin’s mark mingling with all the ones Lindsay so often left. He kissed down Michael’s neck, starting where his hand was resting on his neck down to his collarbone, stroking in time with each kiss he placed. He nipped sharply at the collarbone and tightened his grip around Michael, moving his hand even faster. He was biting and sucking at that spot, stubble irritating it and drawing swears out of Michael as he bucked into Gavin’s hand.

He was close. Gavin bit down hard on that spot he’d been working at and Michael came with a gasp, spilling over their hands and onto his chest.

“Yeah, we’re gonna have to do that again,” Meg said, as she snuggled down into the bed beside Michael. Lindsay wandered out of their room and Gavin heard the sound of water running before she came back to help the three of them clean up. He felt a little bad that Lindsay was doing all the clean up when she didn’t get to participate in the real fun; then Meg’s boneless smile as Lindsay leaned over top of her reminded him that she did get to second base with his girlfriend so maybe he didn’t feel that bad. There was something nice about the familiarness of Michael’s dopey smile as he looked at Lindsay. He especially liked the angle he could see that stupid grin from, with Michael using his shoulder as a pillow.

“We should get out of here,” Lindsay said, tossing the cloth she’d used to help them clean up with in with the rest of the laundry.

Meg’s hand shot out over the edge of the bed faster than a cracking whip, wrapping around Lindsay’s wrist. “No, stay,” Meg said, tugging at the wrist she’d grabbed ahold of. “Just for the night.”

Michael snuggled deeper into the bed, watching Lindsay carefully, and Gavin threw a blanket over the three of them. It only took the three of them watching her, cuddled together and post coital, for her to strip out of her shirt and jeans and join them in bed.

She threw her arm around Meg’s waist, “Just for the night.”


	7. Chapter 7

Gavin woke up and the bed was cold.

Well, not cold. Meg was still there, just farther from him than she should have been, and the space beside him that he remembered Michael filling the night before was cold. Gavin didn’t know what he thought was going to happen, the Joneses had stayed the night and that was more than he should have expected, but he didn’t expect to feel like a cheap lay when he woke up and they were missing. 

Honestly it’s not like he expected them to hang around. 

He wasn’t secretly hoping to wake up with an arm around Michael’s waist with his hair tickling his nose or to see Lindsay’s red hair tangling with Meg’s as they spooned.

This was fine. He had time to reset back to normal before he had to sit beside Michael for a week and act like nothing had changed. A week of waiting to see just what was coming next.

He wasn’t even sure what had woken him up, even being unable to see the sun through the blackout curtains he could tell it was much earlier than they usually woke up on a weekend. Then he heard the crash, and a familiar, “Shit, fuck.”

He came downstairs to find Michael and Lindsay, who hadn’t left in the early morning like a one night stand that had come to regret the decisions of the night before. Instead they were both in pajama pants they definitely hadn’t been wearing the night before, clustered in his kitchen. Lindsay holding Smee like a baby while she quietly laughed at Michael swearing under his breath.

“What are you two doing,” Gav asked, a yawn fracturing his thought in the middle.

“Gav’s awake,” Lindsay cheered, setting the cat down and placing a warm kiss to his cheek when he came up beside her.

“I can fucking see that,” Michael groused, “morning Gav.”

“Michael’s upset,” Lindsay said in a stage whisper, leaning close to Gav as he leaned beside her against the counter.

“I’m not upset,” Michael said, as he busied himself with something Gavin couldn’t see on the stove top, “that damn cat tried to kill me.”

“He’s mad cause now the surprise is ruined,” Lindsay whispered again.

“Well it is now! You two lazy assholes were going to sleep the day away, so we started making pancakes.”

Gavin could smell them now and felt his stomach give a gurgle and his heart give a flutter. Michael and Lindsay didn’t leave and they were making breakfast. His kitchen was warm with their presence and the heat that the stove was emitting, it was damn near domestic. Especially when Meg wandered down the stairs, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she tugged at the hem of the shirt he remembered Michael had been wearing the night before. “Why’s everyone up so damn early?”

“Michael and Lindsay are making us breakfast, love,” Gavin said.

“Guess that’s okay,” Meg said, passing Gavin to hide her face from the early morning light in Lindsay’s chest.

“You know how I’m happy to serve, Turney,” Michael said and Gavin stifled a snicker at Michael’s rolling eyes.

Meg’s voice came muffled from Lindsay’s chest, “Good, so you won’t mind cleaning up when we’re done.”

“Fuck off, Turney, I’m not feeding you and cleaning up.”

“But Michael,” she whined.

“You sound like Gavin when you whine like that.”

“Does that make you more or less likely to clean up after breakfast?”

“Less, babe, always less.”

“I’ll blow you,” she offered, teasingly.

Gavin startled at the offer, though he knew he shouldn’t after everything they had done the night before. It’s not like he didn’t expect something like last night to happen again, just that her teasing offerings edged close to some she had made to him that hadn’t been as joking, not that he was sure that these were joking anymore either.

Lindsay thought they were, going by the way she laughed, “If sexual favors are on the table, then I’ll do it.”

“You  _ could _ just do it because you love me,” Meg said.

“That sounds like some bullshit you’d pull on Gavin, cause you know he’s a sucker. Your guilt trip isn’t going to work on us, Turney,” Michael said.

“Yeah, we’re the kind of suckers who make breakfast for sleeping lovers with no promise of reward,” Lindsay joked. Gavin felt his heart stop with the word lovers. Is that what they were now? Lovers was the kind of word reserved for cheap novels with shirtless men on the cover. The kind of word thrown out by a bird who was trying to make you get more serious than you were ready for.

This wasn’t that though. 

There was no way this could be that. Not that friends with benefits sounded any better, more accurate maybe, but still reminding him a little too much of that movie they felt they needed two different versions of. This was just sleeping together for fun, no feelings. Trying new things because it was fun and interesting and they were young and stupid.

Which meant that fluttering feeling in his chest at the domesticity of this whole scene shouldn’t exist.

He shouldn’t be getting a warm, floaty feeling as he watched Michael, his pajamas riding low on his hips, dancing in front of the stove as he hummed something nonsensical under his breath. His breath shouldn’t catch in his throat at the way the early morning light shone in Lindsay’s hair, creating a halo of light around her, and making her soft smile even softer as she played with Meg’s hair.

These were the feelings he was used to feeling about Meg, not the ones he was used to feeling about Michael and Lindsay.

“You weren’t wearing these last night,” Meg said, fingers teasing at the waist of Lindsay’s soft pants.

“You seem awfully sure about that, Turney,” Michael said.

“Well I helped you out of what you were wearing. I ought to know.”

“Maybe we just didn’t feel like giving the neighbors a free show.”

“That’s a shame, what a show. But what I’m hearing, though, is that you packed a bag for your car so you could stay over without having to do the walk of shame.”

“Is that what you’re hearing all I said was I didn’t want to flash your fucking neighbors. Now eat your damn pancakes.”

Meg took the plate from Michael’s hand, pushing up on her toes to kiss his cheek. “Whatever you say, ya big softie.”

“Where’s mine, Michael,” Gavin whined, his well practiced pouty smirk only getting more pronounced as Lindsay giggled.

Michael rolled his eyes, but Gavin couldn’t help but puff up at the fond smile on his face, “Where’s your what, asshole.”

“Turney, got breakfast.” He turned so they could all look at where she’d curled up in her chair at the table and was sleepily tucking into her food.

“Yeah, maybe I like Meg better than you.”

Gavin didn’t have an answer to that, felt like the air was sucked from his lungs. He knew Michael was teasing, it was plain in his voice, but it still hurt a little to think about in a way he was almost certain Michael didn’t mean it to.

He moved over to Lindsay, the redhead was still leaning against the counter watching the two of them with a smile that could only be described as affectionate. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hid his face in her shoulder, peaking to look at Michael as he cuddled up against her.

“Lindsay,” he whined, perking up a little when he could feel her shake as she tried to suppress her own giggling.

“What Gav,” she asked. He squirmed when her question was accompanied by fingers poking at his sides and his ticklish spots.

“Tell Michael to stop being horrible.”

This time she laughed out loud, “Michael, are you being horrible?”

“I’m just trying to help Gavvy keep his girlish figure,” Michael said, easily pretending to be chastised by Lindsay’s question. He reached over on the counter and grabbed a plate that matched Meg’s, handing it over to Gavin with a smirk.

Gavin smiled and mumbled a thanks to Lindsay as he pressed a quick and thoughtless kiss to Lindsay’s cheek like Meg had with Michael. He could feel his own internal panic starting to build immediately after realizing he’d done it, he wasn’t sure what was fair ground in this new territory they were treading, and knew Michael could be a little jealous when it came to Lindsay - even if he’d seemed fine when Meg and Lindsay had kissed the night before.

“I’m the one that made all this shit,” he said, and Gavin all but sagged in relief, “why is she getting the thank you?”

“Maybe I just like Lindsay better?”

He dodged the kitchen towel that was thrown in his direction with a laugh as Michael muttered something that sounded like, “Touche, dickhead.”


	8. Chapter 8

Gavin wasn’t sure what he expected when he got to work on Monday. He hadn’t really put much thought into it after Michael and Lindsay had left. For all his initial worries that something would change, things hadn’t really felt that different when they were sitting around his table laughing and joking around breakfast.

Hadn’t felt that different until he walked into the office, that is. 

He was a little later than he usually was but still there before Jack and Ryan, and just in time to hear Geoff talking to Michael. 

“Damn, buddy, Lindsay really sunk her teeth into this weekend. Don’t think she’s left a hickey that bad since you two started dating, she laying her claim,” he asked. Michael was shirtless for some reason, Gavin couldn’t even begin to imagine why, but it gave Geoff the chance to see the mark on Michael’s collarbone that was actually Gavin’s handiwork. 

Standing behind Michael, Gavin could only see the flat expanse of his back and the way the muscles moved with his arms, but he knew that Michael was rolling his eyes. “Things get heated, dude, what can I say. Now hand me the shirt I’m supposed to be repping on AHWU instead of ogling me like some creepy, old man.”

Ryan must have been right behind Gavin, coming into the room in time to hear about Michael’s weekend. “Could have been Gavin,” he suggested, maybe the scariest thing Gavin had heard the man say in his years of playing the creepy murder guy in videos.

Michael barked out a laugh, Gavin knew it was fake, but his own nervous laughter was probably more obviously forced. “Where did  _ that _ come from, Ryan?” Michael asked.

Gavin was still standing in the open doorway, barely moved when Ryan shouldered past him to get to his desk. Gavin had been stopped in his tracks since he walked in - even he wasn’t sure if it was because of Geoff’s comment or Michael’s bare back - but if he stayed Gavin was sure he would wind up making an idiot of himself. 

So he moved far enough into the room that he could slip into his chair, spinning so he could look at the rest of the room. Gavin hoped he looked as casually unaffected as Michael did. Not that Gavin missed the way Michael’s shoulders tensed when Ryan shrugged, but Gavin was watching Michael carefully so he'd know how to respond. 

“I just popped in to ask Meg a question about tomorrow’s filming schedule,” Ryan said, “saw her trying to cover a hell of a bruise figured he was putting an end to those Meg/Ryan jokes once and for all.”

“So what Rye, you thought we had a wife swap?” Michael said, shaking his head like Ryan was ridiculous and that wasn’t almost exactly what had been happening.

Geoff laughed, “Michael would really be getting the shit end of that deal, getting stuck with Gavin.”

They laughed, Gavin acted like he was offended, and the tension all but fled the room. Michael went back to his desk, shirt back on his body, and Geoff let his attention drift from the two of them to Ryan as they tried to plan for how big a pain in the ass the PC let’s play Geoff wanted to do that day would be.

Gavin, meanwhile, couldn't help but wonder if he should be offended that Michael hadn’t told the truth. 

They hadn’t really talked about what this was before they came to work and Gavin certainly didn't have a word for what they were doing. Maybe it wasn’t the worst thing that their sexual escapades weren’t public just yet; but, well, Gavin could be a little insecure when it came to his romantic life and a little confirmation would have been nice. He could admit that when their sex lives had started to overlap, when the Joneses had invited Meg over, that he had worried that that was who it was about - especially after Michael’s comment at breakfast that weekend. No one could deny that Meg was stunning, and he couldn't fault them for being interested in pursuing something with her rather than the both of them.

It was a worry that had been sitting at the back of his mind since this thing had really started, easy enough to ignore at first but moments like this made it harder. He didn't know what the end game to this was, didn't know what  _ he _ wanted and couldn't begin to imagine what Michael and Lindsay wanted.

It was easier to just let things happen, to push those intrusive thoughts to the back of his mind. No sense in ruining a good thing because he was worried about labels and feelings.

In the time he'd spent in his own head he'd missed the last of the main crew arriving. He'd done most of his set up through muscle memory, but rushed to get the right game running and his capture ready so they could start recording for the day.

If he was quieter than usual when they started the let's play, no one said anything. If they just assumed he'd had a long weekend and needed a chance to wake up on a Monday morning, they wouldn't be entirely wrong, everyone was a little more subdued during their first recording of the day.

So things went like normal. Gavin making comments when he needed to so the conversation kept moving.

“Gavvy,” Michael said, louder than he needed to to get Gavin's attention since they were sitting right beside each other. The room had quieted back down again after things got heated when Ryan blew everyone up for the fifth time.

“What did Gavin do,” Geoff said, already accusatory, “I'm not setting this damn thing up again. If you fucks have blown it up again we just aren't doing it.”

“I didn't do anything, you mong, I'm not Ryan, I can control myself.” Gavin said.

“Yeah, Geoff,” Michael agreed, “I'm just making sure Gavvers is still awake, he's been too quiet.”

There was a beat of silence, or as close to silence as you could find in the Achievement Hunter office. “You're comin’ over for bevs this weekend, boi?” It was phrased like a question, but Gavin thought it felt like a challenge. It was hard to tell when Michael didn't look away from his screen, his fingers didn't stop as he drove around the virtual city of Los Santos.

“Don’t know boi, might be busy this weekend,” Gavin said, more about being curious to see how Michael would react than it was about actually having plans.

Michael’s carefully constructed indifference fractured a little as his character stilled and his eyes darted over to look at Gavin. Gavin made sure to keep his eyes locked to his screen, only peeking at Michael through the corner of his eye. But they were still being recorded, you never knew what might be included in a video if you didn’t ask one of the editors to cut it, and Gavin was impressed with how quickly Michael played off Gavin’s supposed rejection.

He snorted, “Please, what are you gonna be so busy doing that you can’t come get bevved up.”

“I don’t know Michael,” Gavin admitted with feigned indignance.

“Yeah Michael,” Jack said, “don't you know Gavin has a busy and varied social life.”

“He never visits me anymore either,” Geoff lamented.

“I’m offering him booze he doesn’t have to pay for, I don’t know what else he wants,” Michael said. “The only way it could get any better is if I sucked his dick.”

Gavin was sure someone was going to see his heart where it was currently lodged in his throat. Michael  _ would _ let Geoff assume that Lindsay had given him the hickey and then joke like this in a let’s play. He really wasn’t sure what Michael’s game plan was. Not that Gavin was really worried about figuring it out, he was more worried about ignoring the memory of Michael’s lips wrapped around him.

“Full homo,” Ray said in his usual deadpan way.

“Shut the hell up, Ray,” Michael said. “Like you wouldn’t suck a dick for a quarter pounder and a ride home.”

“Sorry, forgot you were such a classy lay.”

At this point the other guys were dying with laughter, and Gavin was dying in an entirely different way.

Geoff was giggling, like a madman in Gavin’s mind, but Geoff managed to calm down enough to say, “Michael’s only interested in Gav’s dick, he’s a one dick kind of guy.”

“Well let’s not jump to any conclusions, I could be a two or three dick kind of guy,” Michael said and Gavin nearly swallowed his tongue, especially when Michael glanced over at him with a smirk.

“Look out Gavin, you've got some competition,” Jack said.

“Bet it's Ryan, he's been getting all the attention lately,” Ray said.

Geoff laughed, “First Meg, now Michael, you might want to fix whatever’s wrong with your dick that’s got everyone running to Ryan, buddy.”

“Nah, c’mon Geoff you and Griffon are into some weird shit, who said they were real dicks,” Michael said, Gavin thought he was trying to sound like he was joking but it sounded too real.

Gavin was just trying to make it look like he was still playing the game as the laughter died down and the conversation moved on. His eyes stared sightlessly at the screen, and he'd just been walking in circles since this conversation had started, as he tried to keep a straight face in case the other guys looked over and realized that Michael’s ‘joke’ wasn’t far from the truth.

Gavin would swear until he was blue in the face that his finger hit the button on accident, he didn't even remember switching to the grenade, but suddenly the cars they'd been setting up for the let's play were on fire again.

“God fucking damn it, let's stop,” Geoff shouted, slamming his controller down on the desk hard enough that his mic had to have picked it up.

Geoff stormed out of the office, after he closed his capture, and Jack announced, “Guess that’s lunch,” before following after him.

Gavin was ready to go with them, anything to get out of a room that suddenly felt smaller than usual. He was out of his desk and at the door in record time.

“Hey asshole,” Michael shouted just before Gavin could step out the door, he jumped but stood still as he waited for Michael to get up from his desk. Michael was glaring but his gaze softened a little when he saw whatever look was on Gavin’s face, “Seriously, you coming over this weekend or not, don’t make me go over your head and ask Turney.”

Gavin tried to smile, hoped he looked normal to Michael, but he felt like he was grimacing. “I’ll try boi.”

Michael nodded, the serious look he was giving Gavin made him certain that he would end up on Michael’s couch that weekend. “Good,” Michael said, “Lindsay has some big plans, don’t fucking disappoint.”

Lindsay popped in, like hearing her name summoned her from the B-team office, “You’re coming, Gav?” She sounded so hopeful, that it almost hurt to even think about saying no.

“‘Course, Linds.”

She smiled, and Gavin was thankful that Michael didn’t call him out on agreeing when Lindsay asked. Her smile turned sharp, and he wondered if he should be worried about agreeing to this now, “Wear layers.”


	9. Chapter 9

Gavin was not and had not been standing in his closet for the last twenty minutes trying to pick out an outfit like some bird before her first date. 

He wasn't. 

He was just  _ concerned _ about dressing for the ominous plans Lindsay had made.

He was concerned because she had made that layers comment and then absolutely refused to clarify when he asked what she meant. Michael just shrugged when Gavin asked him, pretended like Lindsay’s plans were a mystery to him too, even though they both knew that was a damn lie. He thought about asking in a let’s play, it had been a successful means of him getting his way before, he didn’t. If he was honest, he was worried Michael might give him an honest answer.

Which left him stood in his closet, surrounded by, mostly Meg's, clothes as he second and third  guessed what he had on.

“Gavin, we’re going to Michael and Lindsay’s, you’ve spent more time in the closet than I did; and I’ll avoid the obvious gay panic joke.” Meg said, voice muffled by the number of walls between them.

“I’m not having a damn gay panic,” Gavin said, making sure he sighed audibly enough that she could hear him.

He did leave the closet though, not willing to listen to any more jokes - even if they were maybe well deserved.

“I know you aren’t,” Meg said, not looking at him as she focused on whatever she was doing with her eye makeup, “that’s why I didn’t make the joke. You are having some kind of panic though, what’s wrong?”

“Why would something be wrong, Turney?”

That did earn him a glare as she looked up to meet his eyes in the mirror. Her makeup brush stilling on the pallet in her hand. “Because you just spent the last ten minutes staring at your side of the closet like a small British child who just found a door to another world. And don’t think I missed how seriously you were looking at your sweater when you were getting dressed.”

“What of it? You’re getting just as dolled up.”

She made a soft humming sound, back to drawing on her eyes. “I always look nice for date night with the Joneses, you’re the one who usually grabs the first t-shirt and hoodie you see.”

“Date night, this isn’t, we aren’t.”

Meg watched him now with growing concern as he tried to stutter out what he was thinking, hard to do when he wasn’t sure what that was. The phrase ‘date night’ echoing through his head. It created that same sickly, panicky feeling in his gut that he’d had before his first date with Meg. The one that screamed ‘they aren’t interested, get out, abort.’ It was an irrational feeling but one that persisted all the same.

“Of course it’s a date, Gav, we double with them like this all the time,” Meg said, slowly like she was worried about scaring him.

Double, right. An explanation deeply rooted in rationality; because he was dating Meg, and Lindsay and Michael were  _ married, _ just because they had slept together once didn’t mean they were suddenly anything other than friends.

Gavin was starting to think he was close to losing his mind thanks to all of this.

The way Meg was looking at him now wasn’t helping that feeling.

“You alright there, Gav?” She asked.

“Course, Turney.”

She set down her brush and turned so she could look him in the eye, “Gavin.”

“What if we just didn’t go?” He said, the suggestion as much a way to stop Meg from saying whatever was going to go along with that concerned look on her face.

The concerned look was gone as she looked at him with an eyebrow arched in disbelief. “Because if you bail on Michael without any notice he’ll come over here and kill you, and if he doesn’t you’ll spend the whole night acting weird and guilty about bailing on Lindsay. Weirder than you’re already acting, anyway.”

“Right.”

“Gav,” she said, voice soft like a mother about to comfort an upset child, “if there’s something bothering you about  _ any _ of this, you know you can tell me. That you  _ should _ tell me. Right?”

He was nodding, of course he knew that, he knew he could tell Meg anything.

But knowing and practicing were two different things.

He knew he could tell her that he was feeling lost and confused about the rules of this game they were playing. That he wasn’t sure if what he was feeling was allowed. That somewhere along the way he’d let the lines blur; and lust might have become like which might have started moving toward love. Which left him with this guilty feeling lodged deep in his gut. Because he didn't deserve Meg, he'd come to terms with that. She was too good for him, and who the hell did he think he was that he could have her and still want more.

But every time he thought about voicing that, every time he thought about saying that maybe they should end this before it gets out of control, he saw how happy it was making everyone else. The way Meg started to vibrate with anticipation the closer it got to the weekend. The way Lindsay seemed to be smiling whenever he saw her. The way Michael was having trouble even pretending to rage lately. Even he was feeling happier than he could remember feeling in a long time, when he wasn’t thinking about the worst case scenario. He just couldn’t be the one to ruin that.

Not yet, anyway.

He was sure he would be the one to mess it all up, eventually. He would say something at the wrong time, let an ‘I love you’ slip, or ask for something no one was ready to give and it would all come crashing around his ears.

It was like playing with fire.

One of the four of them was probably going to get burned, at the rate they were going it would probably be him, but he just couldn’t stop.

This game had been addicting from the start. The special rush of sneaking around, doing something dirty that no one else knew about. The longer it went on the worse it got - or the better it got, every time they came closer to being found out that heady rush seemed to grow. Gavin just couldn’t bring himself to put the brakes on it just yet. For the moment everything was too perfect, and Gavin wasn’t sure he could bare putting an end to it all, never mind how it could ruin his relationship with Michael and Lindsay irreparably after this.

It was easier to smile and nod, to agree with Meg that he could tell her anything. That he would tell her the second some line was crossed or he wasn’t feeling up to this anymore.

He could tell that she maybe didn’t believe him. The way she stared into his eyes even after he promised, it felt like a ‘we’ll talk about this later’ kind of look with an ‘I’ll get to the bottom of it if you don’t tell me’ kind of seriousness. 

Maybe she would get to the bottom of it, and then what? She would coo and apologize for making him feel this way? End it before Gavin could get in any farther over his head? Leave him?

Probably not the last one, it really was the worst of worst case scenarios.

They were all worst case scenarios, really. But even his imagination couldn’t conjure up a best case - or it could, but not one that could ever really happen. A fantasy ideal where maybe things stayed like this, and everything was okay, where Gavin wasn’t the only one who had these feelings.

Even in his fantasies he couldn’t keep that idea up. The idea of saying something like that to Meg, asking her what she thought.

He would deserve all of the shouting that Meg thought was necessary, every night on the couch he got after that for ignoring, subconsciously or not, how infuriating she found it that people thought bisexuality meant that infidelity was okay.

He was in too deep to quit just yet though. 

One more night. He had to see how tonight went before he could bring himself to leave just yet. Lindsay had big plans after all, and he couldn’t bring himself to disappoint.


	10. Chapter 10

Michael was the one who answered the door when they knocked. Smile on his face, drink in his hand, looking the same as he always did on game nights.

The only thing that would signal to anyone that this was any different than their normal nights over at the Jones house was the way Michael’s eyes tracked over the two of them, appraising. His smirk as he wrapped his lips around his beer while his eyes were locked with Gavin’s made Gavin feel a pang of pity for anyone who’d ever been on the receiving end of a similar look, they were probably still pining over Michael now.

Meg didn’t seem to be as affected, “What’s with the layers, Jones, did you finally figure out how to get your apartment to subzero temperatures?”

“Get over here,” Lindsay said, doing her best imitation of the Mortal Kombat character, and drawing Gavin’s attention over to her for the first time since he walked in the door.

“That’s Scorpion, not Sub-Zero, and you fucking know that,” Michael said.

Lindsay shrugged, sending Gavin a wink when she noticed his eyes on her. It was rare that Gavin got to see Lindsay really dolled up, date night with the Joneses had come to be more like game nights than nights out and if he thought she looked stunning normally she was jaw dropping with her makeup done, her hair falling around her shoulders, and in her element like this. Spread out on the couch like a queen on her throne, Gavin was pretty sure she could tell him to do just about anything in that moment and he would trip over himself to comply -- he might be in a little deeper than he first thought.

“You bitches ready to lose,” Michael asked, moving to grab a controller from his table and make himself comfortable on the couch, his arms spread out across the back and around Lindsay’s shoulders.

For just a second Meg looked ruffled. Like for the first time since this started she wasn’t completely sure of what was going on. She must have thought, like he did, that game night was just a front for the other game they were playing. It was gone in a flash and she was back with an easy smile, Gavin wondered if she’d actually figured out the plan or if she was just better at faking than him.

“Not even gonna offer us a drink,” Meg teased, “where’s the foreplay?”

“You know where the fridge is.”

“The romance is dead,” she sighed, collapsing into Gavin like she needed him to support her.

“What romance?” Gavin asked.

“Don’t be that way, baby,” Lindsay cooed, “I’ll make it up to you, promise.”

“I’m hearing a lot of talk and not a lot else,” Meg called from the other room, her head in the fridge as she grabbed a drink for herself.

“We’ve got big plans for tonight, Turney, don’t worry,” Michael soothed.

“What are these big plans, starting to think this is all just a big tease,” Gavin said, happily accepting the drink Meg pressed into his hand as he did.

“Aw don’t be that way, Grabbin, when have I ever disappointed you?” Michael asked, leaning so he could let his head fall to Gavin’s shoulder so he could look up at him with mirth filled eyes and a smirk that screamed ‘I know what you look like when you come.’

“Oh Michael,” Meg said, squeezing between him and Lindsay as she sat on the couch, “you should know better than to ask questions you don’t want the answer to.”

“Whatever, we’ll see what you’re saying after I kick your ass again.”

“Let’s play,” Lindsay cheered, as the familiar sounds of Mario came through the speakers and the first game of the night began.

They played like normal for most of the game, Gavin could feel a comfortable buzz settling in as he started to wonder if this was the plan for the night, Mario and gentle teasing. Until that warning flashed across the screen letting them know there were 5 rolls left in the game, Michael held his usual lead and Meg was beating Lindsay by a handful of coins. “How about we make this more interesting,” Lindsay said with a smile that made it clear that the real plan for the night was about to be revealed.

“I could do interesting,” Meg said as she flicked her wrist to take her roll.

“Strip Mario, mini-game loser loses a layer.”

Meg’s eyes lit up and Gavin had to admit he was a little intrigued by the idea, it was definitely territory the hadn’t crossed before.

“Los _ er _ ?” Meg asked, stressing the singularity.

“Or losers, since it’s a 3v1,” Lindsay said.

“You two in?” Michael asked, and Gavin knew that this was an out if they wanted to take it. It was an opportunity to say no, that they’d found the line they weren’t ready to cross, silly since this seemed like a pretty dramatic step backward from what they’d been doing last week.

“Yeah boi,” Gavin agreed, the faint buzz he was feeling made it easy to agree and easy to accept the low curl of excitement and arousal in his gut at the prospect of this.

“Yeah, bring it Jones,” Meg said, “hope you wore your pretty panties.”

“See if you’re still saying that after you lose a layer when I kick your asses at this next game,” Michael said.

“Let’s wait to see the follow through before you start celebrating, Jones.”

“I’ll show you follow through,” Michael said with a smirk, getting in close to Meg’s face. Gavin held his breath at the tension that sparked between them and he waited almost certain the only way this could end was with a heated kiss., it wouldn’t be the first argument Turney had settled that way.

“But,” he continued, “not until Gavin presses A.”

He startled and did as told, the press of the button starting the rotation of possible games. He quietly hoped for one that was rigged against Michael, so the bastard would stop looking so smug. He wasn’t the only one, the other three groaned as the wheel came to stop on one they knew they had no hope of winning. “Hey Turney, hope you and Gav wore your pretty panties. Cause it looks like I’ll be seeing them soon.”

The round ended. Gavin and Lindsay both slid out of their jackets and set them off to the side as Meg wiggled out of her leggings. They all rolled again.

Gavin had reached the point where he was less worried about stars and more worried about spaces, each space they landed on would decide who was losing another layer.

Gavin didn’t miss the way Meg smirked when she saw the way the teams were going to split, he and Lindsay weren’t the strongest of teams when it came to gameplay. It wasn’t a big surprise when at the end of that round he and Lindsay both lost their socks.

Then the next round. Where Michael finally lost and shrugged out of his jacket, Meg did the same after complaining about how cold Michael always kept the place, and Lindsay took her top off - Gavin felt a little bad for feeling upset that there was an undershirt beneath it.

Then Michael was taking off his shirt - the undershirt beneath it, much like Lindsay’s, made Gavin think the Joneses were better prepared for this game than he and Meg.

Last round. 

Michael had a solid lead - and with it winning more than one game - and Meg was holding onto her second place finish. Gavin couldn’t help but look over at Lindsay as they were paired together again to see if she was feeling better about this than he was. There was an intense focus on her face that said she wasn’t. But as the wheel came to a stop on the ghost shooter there was a gleam of hope in her eye, there was a chance that they could take Michael and Meg down a layer. That’s where the real victory was.

It came down to the last shot and when they lost Lindsay slammed her controller down on the table in front of them in a Michael worthy snap of rage. Gavin’s own sigh was drowned by the sound of Michael and Meg’s cries of victory.

“Make sure you two losers give us a good show,” Michael said, melting into the couch with a smug grin on his face and fire in his eyes.

Lindsay stood, defiant as ever, and flipped the couch off with a broad smile before undoing the button at the front of her jeans. Gavin thought about joining her up at the front, but she was captivating as she put on her sarcastic show. 

The roll of her hips as she slowly worked her jeans down her legs was all anyone could watch, the dance as she turned so it was her ass they all got to see. When she stepped out of her jeans, and she slowly bent down to pick them up from the floor, all eyes were on Lindsay rather than the scoreboard behind her. The pale blue of her panties that seemed to match the color of her bra, the shape of her ass and the curve of her thighs as she bent at the hips.

They were all too fixated on Lindsay to realize what she was doing until she had already thrown her jeans in Michael’s face, it muffled his laugh for just a second until he tossed them over to the side with the pile of clothes Lindsay had already started.

She took her bows, a performer til the last, and the show had been more captivating than most Gavin had seen. As she stood up straight, facing them for the first time since she had lost her pants, her undershirt stretched up revealing a sight Gavin hadn’t seen before. 

A tattoo. 

A stylized red and blue sparrow that was flying down Lindsay's hip bone, a splash of color on milky skin that was tantalizing in a way that Gavin hadn't expected. Alluring in its surprise, something he hadn't expected to see there.

He had never been one to find tattoos particularly erotic. He saw Michael’s all the time, to the point he sometimes forgot they were there. The hearts on Meg’s wrists were cute, but he felt just as used to them, it was only because of the sensitivity their placement brought that he paid much attention to the words across her ribs.

This though.

The surprise of seeing the ink there brought a strange urge out in him. He wanted to touch it. To tease it. To worship that spot, driving Lindsay crazy until she finally pushed his head down to where she really wanted it.

“How’s that for a show?” She asked, snapping Gavin from his fantasy. “I need another drink, Gav come help me.”

“You hate to see them go, but if you don’t love to watch them leave,” Michael mused, his gaze heavy on Gavin’s back as he walked past.

“Better lose that shirt, Gavino,” Meg called after them, “wouldn’t want you cheating.”

“Piss off,” Gavin said, even as he unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it behind him. He had already lost most of the minigames and was glad he’d put on another shirt beneath it - his well worn Touch my Awesome Button shirt still felt cheeky when he thought about where this game would probably end.

They moved so they were just out of sight of Michael and Meg, barely acknowledging their calls to grab them a drink too. Gavin was slow to do anything, unsure why Lindsay had wanted him to follow. She had to have an ulterior motive they all had practice carrying multiple drinks out to the ones too lazy to get up and get their own. He was uncertain until Lindsay pushed him back against the counter, well out of sight of the others now, his chest felt tight with choked words and held breaths.

“You know what we have to do, Gav,” she said, her voice just above a whisper to keep them from hearing in the other room.

If his brain hadn’t shut down the second Lindsay pushed his back against the counter he might have been able to answer, might have been able to figure out what the actual question was. Instead, he decided to play it safe and say no, he didn’t know what they had to do, and was just making a valiant attempt not to look down the open front of Lindsay’s wifebeater.

She managed to get impossibly closer, Gavin was sure he could feel every inch of her pressed against his chest. “We have to sabotage them,” she said, he could feel her grin as she whispered her plan into his ear.

“Sabotage, really Linds?” Gavin said, able to breath now that she’d taken a step back and was smiling at him with an excitement that was maybe undeserved for her plan.

“C’mon Gav, let’s just even the score a little bit. Team Get Michael and Meg Naked.”

He couldn’t help the small huff of a laugh that he let escape, “With sabotage.”

Lindsay smiled, the sly look on her face all at once new and familiar, and she was pressed up against him again. “You’re saying you could win a mini game,” she said, words coming between kisses to his neck, “with this going on.”

“Fair play,” he said, breathless.

“What’s taking you so long to grab a couple drinks,” Michael called out.

“We’re in here fucking,” Lindsay said without missing a beat.

“What if we wanted to watch?”

“Shoulda thought about that before you started jerking yourself off over that win.”

“It’s fine,” Meg said loudly pretending like she was soothing Michael, “we both know it won’t take Gavin much longer to finish.”

As she said that Lindsay had grabbed a couple of bevs from the fridge, she let the door hang open so Gavin could grab the other two, and they headed back over to the couch that Michael and Meg were lounging on. Meg was watching them as they walked in, her eyes trained on open entryway that they were walking through, smug look stretched across her face. He refrained from sticking his tongue out at her, something Lindsay didn’t manage.

“Babe, we’ve talked about this, that doesn’t work when you can barely see your tongue poking out.” Michael teased.

“Well it’s not the size that matters,” Meg said consideringly, “it’s how you use it.”

“Round two,” Gavin asked as he snagged his controller from the table and squished in beside Meg, avoiding looking at Lindsay so he wouldn’t accidentally spoil her plan, it wouldn’t be the first time a plan for sabotage failed because they couldn’t keep a straight face.

He could feel two sets of eyes running over him and then moving from him to Lindsay before Michael said, “Sure, we can play til you two losers are out of clothes to lose.”

“Press A and we’ll see,” Lindsay said.

In one of the strangest strokes of luck Gavin had been part of, he and Lindsay were on the same team for the first game. Michael and Meg made no secret of how smug they were feeling when they saw the match up.

“We’ll have to figure out a new punishment for you two before we make it to round 5,” Michael said as they watched the mini-game roulette wheel spin.

“Don’t be so sure, boi,” Gavin said.

“Yeah,” Lindsay said leaning over so she was in Gavin’s line of sight, “I feel a hot streak coming.”

“We’ll see about that,” Meg said.

The game started and so did Gavin and Lindsay’s plan. 

Lindsay made the first move, one hand moving her wiimote and the other coming up to play with Michael’s hair. Michael made a small move to dislodge her hand, but didn’t snap at her for doing it. Her grip looked like it got more insistent, tightening in his hair. Michael gasped and Gavin could see muscle memory take over as Michael let his head fall to the side for Lindsay’s access, hands going slack and eyes dropping shut.

Meg might have snapped at him for not paying attention, or to get his head back in the game before they lost, if she weren’t in the same state as Michael. Gavin was following Lindsay’s lead and doing his best to distract Meg. He kept his controller trained on the screen as he nosed under her jaw and pressed open mouth kisses to her jaw and neck. She made a half-hearted noise of protest but when he stopped the sound was repeated.

The game lasted less than a minute, but that seemed to be enough to get Michael and Meg both interested and distracted. The two mirrored each other as they leaned to follow Gavin and Lindsay, instinctively seeking the feeling of their lips again.

“Lose a layer, losers,” Lindsay said, pretending for a second that nothing had happened.

“Cheaters,” Meg said, untucking her shirt from her skirt before pulling it off over her head.

“Just remember you started this,” Michael said as he pulled off his undershirt.

“I’m shaking,” Lindsay said with an obvious roll of her eyes.

“Press A, Gavin,” Michael snapped. 

He couldn't blame Michael for getting snappy when they were all living for the time the mini games started, and he'd been too caught up in the tension between the married couple to realize it was his roll.

They all seemed to be holding their breath as they waited to see how the game would be split up. This new level of competition had Michael at the edge of his seat, Gavin was sure that Michael would be the first to move when he saw how the game broke them up so he could get at the competition.

That tense edge was still there when it wound up being every man for themselves. Even as Michael leaned back Gavin thought he looked ready to pounce, a taught fluidity like a jungle cat. It was seductive and Gavin was glad Turney was between the two of them lest he become Michael's first victim.

The wheel spun round and round, the four of them watched all sure in the knowledge that they could predict the winner, or more importantly they could predict the loser.

When it landed on the rafting race they all sat up a little straighter. A game they all had a chance at since, like Michael always said, it was such bullshit.

“I’m fucking moving,” Michael said before they could even start the game, “this one is bullshit enough without Lindsay stealing my win.”

He stood up just enough to squeeze out from between Meg and Lindsay just to sit back down so he was almost in Gavin’s lap. “You’d never take advantage of me, right boi?” Michael asked as he made a point of wiggling around until Meg moved closer to Lindsay and gave Michael enough space to squish in between them.

Michael pressed A and started the minigame before Gavin could think about answering his rhetorical question. Michael took the early lead. Distracting Gavin, with a hand rubbing agonizing circles on Gavin’s thigh, enough that he ran into a rock right out of the gate. Meg didn’t take her lips off of Lindsay’s neck when she slipped her skirt off, giving up on trying to win easily.

Michael was gracious as always when he won. “Alright you two, Turney’s already done her part, lose a layer for me.”

Gavin tugged off his shirt and Lindsay pulled off her undershirt, they threw both at Michael who smiled before he tossed both in the growing pile of clothes.

A smug attitude that carried over when it was him against Gavin and the girls in the next round. Michael leaned back with a smirk, the picture of cocky overconfidence.

It gave Gavin a chance to catch Meg and Lindsay’s eyes. Lindsay who had a challenge in her gaze like when she’d suggested this plan, Meg just teased the head of her controller with a  single finger and a sly smirk. It wasn’t hard to see that they were on the same page and wanted Gavin to get there too.

The wheel went around and Michael laughed as he saw what he was sure was his certain win. “If you wanna save yourself the trouble I’ll take those bras and your pants as trophy.”

“I wouldn’t be so cocky, Michael,” Meg said, “it’s gonna make it even more embarrassing when you lose.”

Michael started the game with a confident scoff that became a surprised gasp as Gavin flicked open the button of his jeans. He slowly worked his hand down the front of Michael’s pants, conscious of the awkward angle but it didn't have to be good it just had to be distracting.

Gavin's hand stilled at the feeling of soft lace above softer cotton, drawing a needy and frustrated sound out of Michael. “Fucking, get on with it,” he said. Less an order than a warning, like if this was the point Gavin was going to freak out about a second dick involved then there was going to be a problem. Funny, when what Gavin was actually freaking out about was how right Meg was about Michael wearing his pretty panties.

He really wanted to see what they looked like.

Meg’s teeth latched onto Michael’s earlobe sending him bucking into Gavin’s hand with a gaspy moan. It was enough to spurn Gavin back into action, he wanted to hear that sound again, wanted to be the reason Michael made that noise.

Mostly he just wanted to touch.

Cause Gavin didn’t really know what he was doing. It wasn’t just about trying to do what he liked on Michael, he didn’t do this. There were always better things to do than touch himself: games to play, slowmo to edit, work to do. Trying to remember what had worked as a teenager seemed simplistic, and trying to do what Meg did was just too much thought. There wasn’t Michael’s hand to guide him like last time, either, Gavin was on his own to make this good in what little space there was for his hand to work.

It was just so much easier to touch and to watch.

To watch the way Michael’s eyes would slide shut when Gavin’s thumb brushed his hip bone. His shuddery exhale as he bucked into Gavin’s hand. The choked off curses as Gavin’s hands roamed as much as they could, finger light touches that seemed to leave Michael squirming for more. How Gavin’s uncertain teasing played counterpoint to the way Meg was so certain in the way she was kissing and licking and biting a line up Michael’s neck.

There was the heat in his gut as he watched Michael move, how he couldn’t decide if he wanted to be closer to Meg’s mouth or Gavin’s hand, and how his controller all but dangled from his hand as he gave up his win. It was a warmth that threatened to burn him alive as he looked over to see Lindsay’s eyes alight and focused on him as she mouthed at Meg’s shoulder and palmed her breast.

There was a chime of the round ending that Gavin thought only he heard. He leaned in close so his lips brushed Michael’s ear as he whispered, “Press A.” Gavin snagged Michael’s earlobe with his teeth as he pulled away, a nip that he thought matched the smirk on his face.

Michael’s snarl lost some of its bite when he was sporting an obvious erection.

“Lose ‘em,” Lindsay said, a huskiness in her order that had Gavin helping Michael take his pants off. Gavin stopped when the dark green band of his panties were revealed, a stark line across pale, freckled hips. More dark green fabric and pale grey lace that decorated the sides was revealed once Michael managed to slip out of his jeans. Gavin ached to touch now that so much of that pale skin was on display and he could see Michael hard and straining against the cotton.

“Do you think I look pretty, Gavvy,” Michael asked, the teasing bite and fluttered eyelashes letting Gavin know his starring hadn’t been missed.

Gavin tried to roll his eyes but his throat felt dry even as he tried to get the next round started. 

It was  _ hard  _ to focus on the game.

Hard when he could see every movement like it was a neon sign. The way Lindsay was tracing senseless patterns into Meg’s hip. Meg’s twitching fingers on the couch cushion beside Michael’s leg. The way Michael was fidgeting in his seat and his thigh would brush against Gavin’s with every shift.

Meg broke first, her patience was always the thinnest when she had something she wanted so close. “Fuck this,” she said standing up and facing the three of them, “The foreplay was cute but I’m heading to the bedroom. Come up when you’re done playing, I don’t mind getting started without you.”

The sound of controllers clattering to the ground followed them as the three trailed Meg out of the room. They hadn’t been that worried about the winner this time anyway.


	11. Chapter 11

Gavin got a text from Meg while they were recording a one off in some indie game that Ryan had found. His phone buzzed on his desk and earned him a reproachful look from Geoff. No one said anything about it as Gavin looked at it anyway, he was dead until the end of the round.

_ Let’s go out tonight _ , the message read.

Gavin opened it to respond and noticed that the message hadn’t just been sent to him, but was shining a brilliant blue in a group message between the two of them and Michael and Lindsay.

His phone buzzed in his hand with a response from Michael,  _ You got plans for us, Turney ;) _

Meg’s response was near instant,  _ I want to see that movie before my Twitter feed spoils it. _

_ Bevs after?  _ Lindsay asked.

_ Come back with us _ , Meg said and followed it immediately with,  _ We can finish off the vodka and Michael can talk us into watching that shitty monster show. _

There was a lull where no one said anything and Gavin had to jump back into the let’s play before one of the Gents got snappy with him for not paying attention - and Ryan was losing, someone getting snappy with him was a worry. Gavin lost again quickly, and not entirely on accident, and made sure to ask the question that would keep the three Gents bickering long enough that no one would notice he’d gone silent.

The conversation had gone on without him as he’d played. Michael asking,  _ Is that all we’d be doing? ;) _

Then Meg with snark Gavin could almost hear,  _  We’d also be trying to regain that sense of mystery. I’ve seen you naked so much that I need something new to get off on. _

His phone buzzed in his hand with Lindsay’s answer.  _ You had me at bevs, what’s Gav think? _

Michael answered before Gavin had a chance,  _ Don’t know he’s just staring at his phone like a moron. _

Gavin looked up and locked eyes with Michael, slouching in his seat, phone in his hand and smirk on his face.

Gavin gave him an unimpressed look before sending the message he’d already typed,  _ Sounds top.  _ Not that his answer really mattered even if it didn’t, Meg had gotten the yes she wanted from the people that mattered, Gavin’s attendance was assured.

But it did sound fun, an easy double date with the Joneses was just the thing he needed.

It was a return to normal. All the sex stuff had gotten things mixed up, it had blurred lines. Now  when Gavin looked at Michael or at Lindsay he couldn’t just see his closest friends. Whenever he did he saw layers, superimposed one over the other.

Michael making those squeaking noises beside him at work to make him laugh; Michael smirking and laughing at something one of them said over dinner; Michael gasping for breath while Lindsay and Meg let their hands wander over his flushed skin.

Lindsay grinning at him from a stolen seat while she happily took the brunt of Michael’s teasing; Lindsay playing idly with her drink while she talked about something she was excited about; Lindsay watching Gavin with laser focus as he came and spilled over his hand.

So some time away from  _ that _ , some time spent doing something normal for once, that was what he needed.

And what was more normal than going to some shit movie he didn’t care about, but had gotten so much press he had to have an opinion about it, with his favorite people?

Gavin could predict how the whole thing would go. They would meet at the theater with minutes to spare before it started. Meg would chatter with Michael about what she’d heard about the movie, usually what the reviews had said, and Michael would do the same, usually what twitter and reddit had said. Lindsay would hang back with Gavin, happy enough to watch the other two talk and bicker about where their sources’ opinions differed. One of them would joke about how just once they would love to go into a movie without hearing how they were supposed to love or hate it. The movie would start, the talking would quiet - but not stop, it never completely stopped - and when the movie was over the Joneses would follow them home. It sounded like a nice night out.

So he was surprised when there was a knock at their door right as he was telling Meg to hurry up.

“That should be Lindsay,” Meg yelled, Gavin wasn’t even sure what room she was in anymore.

He didn’t even bother asking why that should be Lindsay at their door, just went to get it so the Joneses could at least wait for Meg inside with him.

Lindsay had a bag in her hand and Michael had his hands stuffed in his pockets when the door swung open.

“I wanted to bring flowers but Michael said it was stupid,” Lindsay said as way of hello.

Michael shouldered his way inside like he always did when the Joneses came over, taking the bag out of Lindsay’s hands as he walked inside. He tossed the bag onto the sofa before making himself comfortable and giving Penny’s head a scratch when she wandered over. “No, I said it was stupid when you asked if Geoff was gonna meet us at the door with a shotgun.”

“You never dated as a high schooler in the South,” Lindsay said in an exaggerated shout to interrupt Michael’s next point.

Michael rolled his eyes, the ‘you’re so full of shit’ he was thinking so well telegraphed that Michael didn’t even have to say it.

“It’s a rite of passage,” Lindsay said, doubling down on what Gavin was pretty certain had to be an exaggeration, “going to pick up your date and getting vaguely threatened by a dad cleaning a large gun collection.”

“You were never vaguely threatened by anyone,” Michael said.

“ _ I  _ wasn’t” Lindsay said, “but I know people.”

Michael laughed, a small, warm sound, “You don’t know shit.”

Lindsay was saved from a disastrous and half considered comeback that Gavin was sure had to be coming by Meg. She came rushing out of whatever room she’d been in, out of breath, and sliding on her shoes as she walked.

“Did I hear something about flowers?” she said, “I think I have a vase somewhere?”

“No flowers, Linds didn’t want to accidentally kill your cat,” Michael said.

A huff, “The only nice ones were lilies and they’re poisonous, I think…”

Lindsay was cut off as Meg rolled onto her toes and pressed a kiss to her cheek, “Thoughtful, I like that.”

The movement called Gavin’s attention to what Meg was wearing - it was either that or think about how he hadn't felt the way he should have when Meg kissed Lindsay - because she didn’t need to roll onto her toes at all. She was wearing those boots with the heel she liked, and she liked them so much because they made her almost as tall as everyone else, with a dress that was entirely different from the one she’d worn to work.

She looked amazing.

Not just amazing, Gavin had seen Meg in nearly every state imaginable from sick to half asleep to red carpet ready, she always looked amazing. This though, Gavin hadn’t seen her this dressed up for a movie night since they first started dating. It had been so long since those days where they were trading turns travelling across the country to spend weekends together that Gavin almost forgot about them entirely.

He was willing to put it up to coincidence.

Finding the mystery, bringing the spark back, or some other shite from the cover of those magazines Meg would flip through in the shops. Something about fooling around with the Joneses reminded her of a time when everything was still giddy and new; now she was just letting herself get wrapped up in that.

It wasn’t that weird. It was like any other night out, just like Gavin had expected.

Mostly like Gavin expected.

Michael still argued with Meg about what they should expect from the movie as they walked in, with Michael’s hand on her lower back to steer her through the room. He followed with Lindsay close behind them, her fingers entwined with his as she swung their joined hands back and forth. Gavin didn't think anything of it, why would he when the four of them had always been so comfortable with each other and touching each other before this, until an elderly woman stopped Gavin with a hand on his arm to let them know what a handsome couple they made.

Gavin stumbled for a reply, something better than the instinctual “She’s not mine,” that he was thinking.

It was hard when Michael and Meg were a couple feet away, still wrapped up in each other as they watched and giggled at Gavin’s uncomfortable situation. It didn’t help that Lindsay hadn’t let go of his hand.

Or that she just smiled widely and said, “Thank you,” to the woman.

When they caught up to the other two, who had managed to get their giggling under control but Michael was leaning heavily on Meg as he caught his breath, Michael said, “That must have been unbearable for you, a stranger trying to talk to you.”

“You aren’t much better,” Lindsay said, “you hate when people are nice.”

“Everybody’s so fucking chatty,” Michael said, “it’s fucking weird.”

“You two were not bred for the South,” Meg teased.

“That’s why we got ourselves two cute Texas girls to help us.” Michael said, reaching over to pinch Lindsay’s cheek that only stretched her lovestruck smile wider.

They were so good together it made Gavin’s heart hurt sometimes.

The blinding way that Michael and Lindsay loved each other was so good, Gavin couldn’t imagine anything like that. It was so effortless and obvious in the way they looked at each other. It’s how Gavin felt about Meg, and he hoped it was half as obvious to the people looking at them.

Sometimes, in the quietest part of his mind, he thought that he might look at Michael and Lindsay like that; and that they might look at him and at Meg the same way. More often they were drowned out by the rest of him, the screaming sirens of thoughts calling him selfish for looking and thinking about someone who wasn’t Meg like that. The whispery, sharp ones that said even though Geoff and Griffon tried the swinging thing, they were in love enough with each other that they’d never had to deal with any romantic feelings for their temporary bedmates. The mean, questioning ones that asked if he really believed he was good enough to deserve Meg, let alone anything more than that.

It was a pandora’s box of self-loathing, and in the bottom of that chest was that tiny bit of hope wanting to get out. 

The maybes. 

Maybe this isn’t weird. Maybe there is a word for what I’m feeling and what I want. Maybe they feel something else there too.

Gavin somehow ended up sat between the Joneses, Meg taking Michael's other side to get as far from Lindsay and the snacks she had said she needed. Lindsay’s face fell a little when Meg moved. “I have a shoot coming up,” Meg said with a hint of a whine, like she wasn’t happy about it either, “if I eat any of that it’s all I’ll see in those pictures.”

Michael scoffed, “Like you could look anything other than perfect.”

“You caught me,” Meg said, “I was really just using the movie as an excuse to feel you up during the jump scares.”

Lindsay's hands wrapped around Gavin's arm as she used it to turn toward the rest of the group. "Gav, you're our science guy, aren't you supposed to take a date to a scary movie cause adrenaline and love are like the same thing?”

“Is that what you’re doin’, Turney?” Michael asked, “Tricking us into loving you two?”

Two, that was a word. A word that toyed at those maybes and made him think that he might not be the only one feeling something. That feeling didn't last long before he was criticizing himself for reading too much into everything that was said to him, he was worse than the comment section of the podcast making wild leaps and making accusations about things they didn't know anything about.

"I'll remember you said that next time Gavvy comes home saying you're making him play a new Five Nights, Michael," Meg said.

"You caught me Turney, nothing gets me hotter than watching Gavin sob in a corner cause a duck scared him."

"He is kinda cute when he's rocking back and forth in terror," Lindsay said, giving Gav's arm a pat to let him know she was at least mostly kidding.

"And you can't tell me there's not footage somewhere of you too 'comforting' each other after a bad jump scare," Meg accused.

"I  _ can _ tell you that you can stop trying to change the subject when we're really talking about how you're making up fucking excuses to feel me up. I'm more than just a piece of meat," Michael said.

Meg gave a melodramatic sigh, poking and rubbing a hand down Michael’s bicep as she did. “How did you figure out my master plan?

"Cause you're just that shallow, Turney," Michael teased, rolling his eyes at how ridiculous it sounded to him too.

“Sounds like someone’s read the comment section of my videos.”

Lindsay laughed, “You slept your way into the job and Michael’s the only reason I kept mine, aren’t we something.”

“Hey, everyone thinks I’m sucking Geoff’s dick,” Michael said, not one to be left out.

“That’s cause you would if he’d let you,” Lindsay said. Gavin was almost shocked to see Michael nod in agreement.

“So Gavino’s the only one who’s here cause he has any talent,” Meg said.

The lights went down as Gavin started to feel a warm blush spread across his face, strange and unbidden when he usually had no problem taking a teasing compliment when it was offered.

“Well I always knew I was just a pretty face,” Michael said.

“Right now you're just a loud mouth, shut up before you get us kicked out of another movie,” Lindsay said.

“We weren't kicked out,” Michael said, voice loud as ever in the rapidly quieting theater and earning him a glare from the couple in the row before them. He lowered his voice, a whisper that had to be for Gavin or Meg when there was no way Lindsay could hear now that the previews were rolling, “We were politely asked to leave, and it was her fault. Her and her fucking wandering mouth.”

He was quiet for a minute and Gavin thought he was just going to leave them both with that thought, but a loud laugh startled him and the people around them until Michael could smother it. “No, Turney, there  _ weren't  _ any wandering hands. What kind of guy do you take me for?  _ Lindsay  _ is the one with the popcorn bucket.”

There wasn’t much said after that, it was enough to settle into something like normal Gavin even thought it was something he could grow used to. How Michael only snickered when he jumped at the first cheesy jump scare, and then threw his arm around Gavin’s shoulders giving them a squeeze at the next scare. Meg got similar treatment and used it to her advantage as she turned in to Michael’s side whispering in his ear or using him to hide her face or stifle her laughter occasionally. Lindsay wrestling her way onto Gavin’s armrest by flipping his hand over and taking it in hers.

They stayed like that until the movie ended, there was this comfortable warm feeling that settled in Gavin’s chest and he focused on that barely paying attention to the movie at all.

Something that maybe wasn’t a huge loss.

Michael was still complaining about it by the time they got home. “It was awful! Not even good shit horror, and you don’t even  _ like _ scary movies. Seriously why were you in such a hurry to see this, Meg?”

“Just wanted the excuse to go out with you,” Meg said, “this was the only thing out we hadn't seen.”

Lindsay squealed, “That’s the sweetest, I forgot how much I love the honeymoon phase.”

“They've known us too long for there to be a honeymoon phase. They just  _ like  _ us,” Michael said, sing-songing the word like it was a character flaw.

“I like Lindsay,” Meg said, sticking her tongue out at Michael, “I guess you're alright.”

Lindsay smirked, stealing Meg and pulling her closer.

“Aw, babe,” Michael said. Gavin wasn't sure if it was Meg or Lindsay he was talking to.

Now it was Meg who smirked, blowing Michael a kiss that was either supposed to be apologetic or teasing. It managed to say a lot in the one gesture.

“Come cuddle with me,” Lindsay said, “Michael can buy our love by bringing us drinks.”

“Why would I want to buy your love when I’ve got Gavin,” Michael said. His arms coming to wrap around Gavin’s waist from behind as he spoke.

They did their bickering, falling into that easy push and pull as Michael kept his arms wrapped around Gavin and Meg and Lindsay moved to spoon on the couch. Michael got talked into fixing everyone a nightcap and when he handed them all out he wedged himself between Gavin's side and the back of the couch, pulling Gavin's arms around his middle and throwing his feet into Meg's lap where she and Lindsay had curled together.

Meg put on the first show Netflix suggested, something they could put on and forget. “This was nice,” Michael said, snuggling further into Gavin’s side.

Meg made a humming sound of agreement, in the few seconds that she and Lindsay had been snuggled together things had devolved to the two of them trading lazy kisses, pulling away from each other for just a few seconds to smile and giggle and share another kiss.

Michael huffed, a sound that turned into a laugh thanks to the way his lips couldn’t help but curl into a smile. “Guess they agree. Be a good date, Gavvy and give me a goodnight kiss.”

Gavin tilted his head down, angle awkward and straining his neck, a teasing gesture that put all of the real decision making on Michael.

A decision he made with ease, tilting up to meet Gavin’s lips and hand reaching up to cup his face. It was a soft kiss, saccharine, and felt like lazy Sunday mornings. He could taste Michael’s smile, feel it stretch against his lips, and it stoked at that warm feeling in Gavin’s chest.

It felt like home, contentment, commitment. This lazy slide of Michael’s lips against his, aimless and sweet.

Gavin didn’t know where one kiss ended and the next started, but he wanted to bottle this feeling and keep it forever. This was like an island of early romantic bliss in the confusing storm that was this relationship.

If they were calling it a relationship. They were living in this labeless purgatory and Gavin had always sided on the end of caution. But with Michael kissing him like it was all he wanted to do and hearing the sounds of Lindsay and Meg kissing and giggling, it was enough to make him want to forget about that.

For just one night Gavin wanted to pretend that this was normal. That this was real and normal.

Just one night of pretending.Then he would put a voice to his worries and hope he didn’t ruin what they had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be taking a brief hiatus after this chapter, hope to be back to it as soon as the semester ends and I have time to write again!


	12. Chapter 12

Gavin didn't try very hard.

He was a weak man, couldn't help that, and he'd been telling himself that he would start to set things on the path to back to normal the next time.

The next time never really came.

After that night on the couch - and the morning after, still on the couch, but significantly more sore - things stayed so sweet.

It was like they’d gone from zero to sixty and had slammed on the breaks, cruising now at a nice steady thirty. Nights that even a week ago might have been about rushing into bed had gotten tender and lazy.

Michael was the first up after that date just like the last time, made breakfast and woke them all up more gently than Gavin thought he was capable of. They stayed all day, cuddled together on the couch and switching between Netflix and games they could all play. The four of them made a valiant attempt to squeeze onto one cushion, no one moved unless it was to get closer to someone else or to answer the door when lunch and dinner showed up at the door.

That was it.

And at the end of the night the Joneses both agreed that they didn’t want to overstay their welcome. Like they choreographed it, Michael kissed Gavin’s left cheek and Lindsay his right, a gesture they mirrored with Meg and then they left. Plans were made for dinner later in the week and then they were gone without a word of what the weekend might have been or even what they’d been doing a week earlier.

It happened just as quickly as the sex had but it was so altogether different. This was like things were normal, but with a touch of something that no one but Gavin seemed to notice. 

The way Meg would come skipping into the office, how she would kiss Gavin and ruffle Michael’s hair before leaving hand in hand for lunch with Lindsay. How Michael would play bloody footsie with him when they went out to lunch with the guys, and  smile at him like the cocky prick he was when Gavin kicked him back. The way Meg would take Michael's chair when she did come to visit Gavin and then pout in that cute way she had perfected and fluttering her eyelashes until Michael gave up trying to move her and just leaned against Gavin's chair instead.

It was flirty is what it was.

Things had changed in a way Gavin wasn't sure should be allowed.

Dinners at places they never bothered going to before, where Gavin pulled out a nice shirt and Michael left his beanie at home and the girls got all dolled up. Hand holding across dimly lit tables while they talked about the same things they always did.

Then there were the normal dinners. The days someone convinced the other three that they  _ needed  _ to go out for half-priced drinks, and that they might as well eat while they were out. Arms thrown around shoulders as more drinks were finished, loud laughter, and ubers that took them each to their separate homes.

Game nights that went like they always did. Or didn’t happen at all, became lazy movie nights instead. Folded together on the couch they sat in an easy, comfortable silence.

And at the end of the date the Joneses would leave sometimes with a kiss that seemed chaste compared to before, and in that innocence somehow more notable. Other times they left with a ‘See you later’ or a demand that they get lunch together the next day.

That was if they went home at all. There were always those nights where the Joneses came over and Lindsay decided to have just one more beer and then after that decided she was too buzzed to drive. Those nights always went the same way really, too buzzed to drive became one more beer which became a sleepy Lindsay who slipped upstairs and made herself comfortable in their bed, always on Gavin's side. Meg would always turn in after that, never making it a full round after Lindsay turned in before she was going upstairs, throwing herself down in the middle of the bed and barely leaving enough space between her and Lindsay and between her and the edge of the bed for him and Michael to squeeze into. Gavin would always let Michael talk him into something, another round of bevs or one more round of whatever co-op they had in the Xbox or anything that would keep them up for a little while longer. Gavin knew why he agreed, always a little afraid of that feeling he had when he saw Meg and Lindsay asleep in his bed together but even more afraid of how right and commonplace it was starting to feel. He wasn’t as sure why Michael put off going to bed, though Gavin was quickly learning how little Michael seemed to sleep, he wondered if it was the same as his reason.

It felt good, Gavin was hesitant to say it even in his own mind but he thought it even felt right.

Which meant he couldn’t keep his mouth shut about it.

“Help me figure out what I’m making for dinner when Michael and Lindsay come over,” Meg said early one morning. “I’m thinking of something with a lot of protein for Michael with all the bulking up he’s been doing.” She paused for a second, considering, “Maybe I’ll just ask Blaine if he’s got any suggestions.”

“I don’t think Michael cares about dinner as long as he gets dessert after.” Gavin said 

“Nuh uh, no dessert of any kind. You’ve got lines and shit to learn, this is the coach baning sex before game day, it’s too exhausting and I’m not having Burnie give me shit cause one of you fucks up.” 

There was something panic inducing about being reminded of how quickly shooting was coming up, and how unprepared Gavin felt. Panic that must have read on his face.

“Don’t worry Gavino, it’s not for  _ us _ , just for all of us. Four is so much more exhausting than two.”

He hadn’t been worried about that at all, wondered if he should have been; but at least he had a reason why the sex had suddenly stopped.

A smile and a nod was enough to end the conversation.

So of course that’s when things started to go wrong, to get difficult.

The filming day from hell had everyone’s tensions raised. Early morning filming with nothing to look forward to but a late night had everyone’s testy, even if they all knew why it was a necessary evil. Loathe as they all were to let the audience dictate who they included in what content, Michael and Gavin were going to be gone from filming for weeks and he wasn’t just being a cocky prick when he said they were the fan favorites - even if Ryan coming out of his shell had suddenly grabbed him a lot more attention from the audience.

So the day from hell was a necessity, even if Gavin wasn’t happy about it. Didn’t have any reason to be happy about it, Meg kicked him out of bed and made him uber to work because she refused to get up so early and he was trying to quietly pretend he wasn’t also a little cranky that this was the first night in a week that he hadn’t woken up sandwiched between her and one of the Joneses - if he were being honest, Gavin would admit that it’s the same kind of cranky he got when he didn’t wake up beside Meg.

That feeling was remedied, slightly, by the sight of Michael with his beanie on his head and his hood up to shield his sleepy face from the light of the room; and by Lindsay, who brought them both enough coffee and redbull to keep them going until the first break, who kissed Michael in that way of theirs that Gavin couldn't describe but left him feeling squishy inside and the ran a hand through Gavin's hair, to slow to be ruffling, the gentle carding almost felt like a pet.

It made him feel better.

It wasn’t the day that was making things feel like they were harder, more like it was a sign of how hard things were about to get.

A full day of recording where they barely took a break right before weeks and weeks of filming all night. All leading up to Gavin leaving for who knows how long.

It was stressful, being so busy and then leaving. Gavin hated when he had to be apart from Meg for too long and with their schedules not matching up much he knew it’d feel like even longer.

He was just worried the feeling was going to be worse than usual. Austin was his home now, and his family had gotten just a little bit bigger than him and Meg, Penny and Smee.

Now wasn’t the time to worry about that.

It wasn't the time when they were all tiredly trying to create weeks of content that the audience needed him and Michael to be in.

And it wasn't the time when the four of them were all sitting in Gavin's part of the trailer, waiting to be called out to the football field for shooting to start.

Actually that might have been the time. Gavin had gotten so good at pretending that he was waiting for the ‘perfect’ time that every time the four of them were together it was never just right. He could probably say something at any time, was there really a time where asking a question was better than any other.

He could say something right now. With the girls sitting and giggling about the cheerleader uniforms that wardrobe had given them. With Michael sprawled out on the floor in just his undershirt and the tight black pants of his football uniform, the shoulder pads and jersey beside him on the floor. 

Gavin could say something.

All it would take is a ‘What are we doing?’ Or a ‘Am I the only one who feels like this is more than sex?’ Or the more needy sounding ‘Are you going to miss me when I'm gone?’

But it wasn't the right time to worry about that yet.

Instead he just joined in the laughing. Why would he start a tough conversation on the one day Meg and Lindsay were both going to be on set to shoot. Better to just not, to fight and tease so he could actually sit down in his own trailer now that the girls in hair and makeup had finally let him go.

He leaned down to kiss Meg, ready to distract her so he could flip their spots. To take her seat and pull her into his lap.

Her hand stopped him, “No, Gavino baby, I can’t with the mustache  _ and  _ the hair.”

“Come here, Gav,” Lindsay cooed, not managing a straight face as she made smacking kissy noises at him, “I don’t mind if you’re full Woody.”

Michael snorted from his spot on the floor as Gavin let Lindsay pull him in closer to her. “I don’t think you’ll get a  _ full  _ Woody,” he snickered, laughter dancing through every word, “wardrobe showed me your prop dick, it’s not giving a full anything.”

Michael giggled again, a sound that was one part exhaustion and one part how funny Michael found himself.

“That sounds like a bit of jealousy, Michael boi.”

“Of your floppy, fake dick, get fucked.”

“Of my giant, fake dick,” Gavin corrected.

“Are they really doing this right now?” Meg asked, “A dick measuring contest with a shitty dildo?”

Lindsay smiled, “Yep, that’s our boys.”

Meg shook her head but Gavin thought her face was undeniably fond.

“You wanna see dick measuring, Turney, cause I’ll show you dicks.”

He say up and went to grab for the leg of Gavin’s jeans, giving a sharp tug that actually managed to pull them down enough to expose a small sliver of skin. A bit of skin that Lindsay’s fingers were drawn to the second it was revealed. Meg made a sound, somewhere on the edge of a laugh, before reaching out to poke at Michael’s knee with her foot. “Stop it, we’ve gotta be on set soon.”

“We’ve got like five minutes to fool around,” Michael said. “C’mon Meg, don’t you wanna check trailer sex off your bucket list.”

“What makes you think I haven’t already?”

“That’s hot,” Lindsay said her grip on Gavin’s hips tightening ever so slightly. “Let’s talk about that more, you and Gav could reenact it.”

“Fucking voyeur,” Michael teased, “if anyone gets to reenact anything it's gonna be me. I'm not fucking kidding about that bucket list.”

A loud banging on the door startled them all as Burnie’s voice came through the door loud and muffled, “Get your asses to set, the sooner we get this shot the sooner we can get everyone out of the cold.” putting an end to wherever that had been heading before it could even start.

That was Meg and Lindsay’s last official night on set, their scene filmed and finished quickly both of them happy to get out of the cold and go home to get into a warm bed. Glad they didn't have to spend any more of their nights on set.

They did come around though.

Meg would come to set a little early, to pick Gavin up, and if everyone was on set she would let herself into Gavin's trailer to nap until they could actually leave. If Lindsay was on set they would both get together and talk about whatever it was they talked about when he and Michael weren't around.

But it was usually just Gavin and Michael.

And despite the guy's jokes that they turn their shared wall into a gloryhole the two hadn't done anything more than lounge together.

For all Michael's talk of bucket lists Gavin didn't think he'd gone any further than he had that night the girl's were on set as extras.

Instead it was shite like today, where Michael let Gavn stretch out on the tiny lounger in his trailer with his head in Michael's lap. They had a short break while Burnie and Colton filmed their big sene and Michael was using the time to go over his lines again for the scene they were shooting next. Gavin had his eyes shut tight, doing his best to focus on the feeling of Michael's fingers carefully threading through his hair. Hoping to forget the churning sick feeling in his stomach. Even thinking about it once was enough to pull a pitiful groan from him.

Michael chuckled and gave a tiny tug to Gavin's hair. "If you shit your pants while you're touching me I'm ending this."

Gavin laughed and the force of the action made him groan and clutch at his stomach again. "Stop being terrible, Michael, you prick."

"I'm sorry baby, let me be more considerate about your leaky bum hole."

"I'm just going to hide in the bathroom where everyone thinks I'm at anyway," Gavin pouted.

"Aw c'mon Gavvy, don't be so pouty I'm just teasing," Michael said.

"Stop enjoying my misery," Gavin said.

"There's nothing fun about sitting next to a guy wearing a diaper, Gav."

"Piss off," Gavin said, "I'll go be miserable on my own."

"Don't leave on my account," Michael teased, "you move too much and you really might shit yourself."

"I wouldn't be the first in this room to do it."

"Oh fair play, Gavvy."

Their playful teasing lapsed, even between the two of them it was hard to go more than a couple rounds when talking about shitting yourself. Maybe if Geoff was there to add to it. Michael's hand went back to Gavin's hair and Michael went back to his script, something he was wont to do lately because even though Michael knew his part forward and backward he was not so secretly worried he'd be the one to fuck up.

"So filming is almost over," Michael said suddenly.

"Yeah," Gavin responded, not sure what Michael wanted but knowing enough to keep the conversation going.

"Which means we start getting our weekends back," Michael prompted.

"Yeah, Turney's looking forward to a nice long lie in. What's your point Michael boi?"

Michael sighed, like this conversation was actually causing him pain, and maybe it was Michael was often annoyed when he felt like Gavin was being dense - whether it was on purpose or not.

“We’ll finally have our weekends again, and you’ve only got a couple before you’re gone for fuck knows how long.” With his head in Michael’s lap it was impossible to miss the muttered, “A problem that wouldn’t fucking be there if you’d just marry Meg.”

“I’m glad you know my schedule so well, Michael, still missin’ your point though.”

“We should go out. All of us. One last hurrah before you disappear into the wilds of England leaving us with only the memory of your massive fucking nose to prove you even existed at all.”

“Tempting as that sounds, can’t.”

“What do you mean ‘ _ can’t _ ,’ what the hell has you so busy?” Michael sounded indignant but it was that same voice he used in videos when he thought Gavin was being intentionally oppositional.

It really meant he was waiting for Gavin to give in and admit he was just kidding.

He wasn’t though, “Dan’s coming in, been planning this filming for months.”

“Are you serious?” Michael’s annoyed disbelief was loud, but he was still careful to make sure he didn’t jostle Gavin.

“Of course I’m serious, Dan’s coming in and we’ve got a full schedule planned.”

“Is Dan not housebroken? Why can’t you leave him at home for a couple hours, Penny could babysit him if you’re that fucking worried.”

“I’m not going to leave Dan at home just cause you want to get bevved. You’ll just have to make do without me.”

Gavin could feel Michael tense underneath him. There was a comeback coming, maybe even some poorly contained yelling, though what he was upset about Gavin had no idea.

Gavin liked to think he would have asked what was wrong -- or maybe more realistically asked Michael what his problem was -- if they’d gotten to that yelling.

He didn’t get a chance to ask either of those things, they never got to whatever had Michael so upset.

Gavin’s stomach gave a lurch, an uncomfortable bottoming out that was threatening enough to send him running to the bathroom. Tripping over his own feet in his rush to avoid embarrassing himself.

Gavin really wished he was in his own trailer, for all their talk of shitting oneself there was something strangely and unusually embarrassing about knowing Michael was on the other side of the door.

Gavin could hear a sigh come through the door and Michael's muffled voice as he was clearly talking to himself, “Why is this so fucking difficult all of a sudden?”

Then nothing, nothing but soft footsteps and the click of Michael shutting a door behind him, leaving Gavin alone.

It gave him some time with his thoughts as he sat and waited for his stomach to settle enough that he could stand. To think about whether or not he would ask Michael about what had him so bothered. Whether he would ask what was suddenly so hard. He knew he wouldn't, even sitting there trying to imagine how that would go Gavin knew he couldn't or maybe just wouldn't go through with it. Confrontation wasn't something he was good at. He could pick and prod at a thing until a fight was building but once tensions were heavy Gavin could never follow through.

And things were very heavy right now.

Gavin didn't think he was just imagining that tension anyway.

Confrontation wasn't in his nature, but Gavin knew what to do when tensions were high.

A perfect storm had brewed around them and now that there was this heavy air of things about to break it was time to go away, and that's what Gavin was doing. Distance. Get inside, go underground, whatever it was you did when the skies were about to open up and soak you through; that's what Gavin was doing.

He had his time with Dan and he had his English exile, it was enough that by the time he was home again the skies should be clear.

The lighter thoughts seemed to agree with his constitution, as Gavin finally felt well enough that he could stand again.

He wondered if that's what Meg was secretly doing, he hadn't considered it before but now that his brain had caught hold of the idea the wheels couldn't help but drag it under. She had started this game -- like oh so many of the games they played -- and like every game they played, Meg hated losing, she could be sneaky if it meant tilting things in her favor. Getting bored with the game was just the same as losing in her book, but maybe that was why things had seemingly taken a turn for the platonic, Meg wanting to set things back to normal but wanting to remain the winner.

It wouldn't be the first time she'd won a game by convincing her opponent it had been their idea to quit.

Gavin felt a little lighter as he thought that maybe for the first time in a while he and Meg were on the same page with what was happening.

As he exited the bathroom Gavin was surprised to see a note sitting in front of a bottle of water from the craft services table.  _ Drink this so you don't die of dehydration, dumbass. I'll cover for you on set til you stop leaking and can start doing your job. _

Maybe it was Gavin's realization fighting with Michael's unique way of showing affection, or maybe it was just his body reminding him he was still sick, but Gavin's stomach gave lurch as he read the note.

For once he hoped it was the latter.


	13. Chapter 13

Normally when Dan was coming in to film Gavin did his best to take time off so they could film while the light was good -- it was worth dealing with the jokes about being in the office less than Jack when he came back.

Unfortunately, with the filming and the leaving for an unknown period of time until his Visa was reapproved, taking the full time wasn’t really an option this time.

Despite what Michael thought, Gavin could leave Dan home alone. He  _ was  _ an adult after all. Gavin just didn’t see the point. There wasn’t much for Dan to do all on his own, except game, and if he came into work with Gavin they could turn it into content.

It was the easiest thing in the world, throw in a first person shooter and make some jokes about how Dan made them actually seem good at games. It was a good formula and gave the audience something new to watch.

It shouldn’t have been a problem.

It didn’t seem like a problem when they were actually recording.

Well it didn’t until Dan said something about it while they were stocking up on the things they needed to shoot the next day.

“Is there something going on I should know about?” he asked. If was an innocent enough question and it really shouldn’t send a shiver of panic down his spine.

“What do you mean?” Gavin asked, voice even and level in a way he was sure seemed normal -- it didn’t really matter if it actually was, Dan was never very good at picking up those sorts of things anyway.

Dan shrugged, “I mean, I know things are tense, what with Ray being so pissed about the streaming thing, and it'll be kinda shite if he does leave since he's such a good bloke; but is there something other than that going on?"

Gavin didn’t know what surprised him more: that Dan picked up on the tension in the room or that he knew that it was about more than Ray. Okay, maybe he did know which was more surprising. The tension was there, cloying and a little painful when the room went silent, but if Ray wanted to leave the only thing stopping him was himself; and maybe some portion of his contract that people with more authority than Gavin were privy to.

“Ray can do what he wants to.”

“I just wondered,” Dan said, Gavin was pretty sure he was working up to explaining something but wasn’t sure how, since he didn’t know Gavin’s friends and coworkers quite as well. So when he lapsed into silence Gavin made no move to fill it. “He’s good mates with Michael?”

“Is, was, don’t know how much they hang out, B.”

Dan nodded, like that made sense. It did, of course, what didn’t was his line of questioning.

“Think he’s upset about ‘im leaving?”

“How the hell should I know?”

Dan huffed, like Gavin was the one asking unreasonable questions in the middle of a hardware store. “Well he’s your ‘boi’ ain’t he?”

It was a rhetorical question, Gavin was pretty sure, but he couldn’t stop the small sneer at the use of his preferred nickname for Michael.

“I’m just trying to figure out what I said that got him so proper mad at me.”

“What are you on about? Michael wasn’t mad he’s just loud.”

“I know that, and I’m tellin’ you he seemed proper mad.”

Gavin didn’t quite believe it. Michael was a lot of things: brash, loud, impulsive, and didn’t hesitate to share exactly what was on his mind. It didn’t make for the best of first impressions.

But then this wasn’t exactly Dan’s first time meeting Michael.

He took a second to think about how Michael had been acting. He’d had his headphones on when Gavin and Dan had come in, and hadn’t made any move to take them off or speak to them when he noticed Gavin sitting beside him. And maybe he had been a  _ little  _ quicker to snap when they’d actually started working, and when he wasn't yelling he had no shortage of bitchy comments to make. He’d bailed on lunch too. When Gavin asked Michael if he wanted to tag along with him and Dan, Michael had claimed he had a rage quit to film. Gavin had written off the look on his face at the time, thinking he was miffed about having to spend an hour playing some piss awful indie game; but now he wondered if that glare might have been directed at Dan.

“I think you’re reading too much into it, B.” Gavin said.

Cause if Gavin started thinking about it too hard it was almost like Michael was jealous.

Which was ridiculous. Wasn’t it?

Not the idea of a jealous Michael on principle, it was well known that he was a little possessive, what Gavin couldn’t figure was what Michael was jealous of.

Cause if he was jealous of Dan there’d have to be a reason, and the only thing there was was Gavin.

Which the thought of was insane.

Right?

He couldn’t  _ actually _ be pissed at Dan because Gavin said he wouldn’t go to drinks with him.

“That’s a relief,” Dan laughed, the joke to funny for him to get through without a small giggle in the middle, “wouldn’t want to think about what you’d do f you had to choose between the two of us.”

Gavin laughed a little half-heartedly. Wondered if he should say he kinda did.

“It’s really no contest,” Gavin said. He forced himself to look at the items he was picking up and not just give into the urge to throw things in blindly to put an end to this shopping trip and conversation -- fire was being used in this shoot and while Dan’s fiery explosion might be good for the views it would not be for Gavin’s conscience.

Dan laughed again, “I know, ‘s why I don’t know why Michael’d be so upset.”

Gavin got the very unfamiliar feeling that Dan was seeing something that Gavin wasn’t when he said that.

“What d’you mean?”

“He’s Michael,” Dan said with a shrug, like that explained it all. They had picked up everything on their list and Gavin couldn’t come up with anything to say to that as they came up to the checkout.

Dan perked up as they were loading everything into his rental.

“We should hit downtown with them, Lindsay is a bird that knows how to have a good time.”

For some reason that brought to mind warm, sure hands touching his body. A heavy gaze watching him with unconcealed lust as she pulled sounds out of him he’d never made before.

“Think Michael said something about them having plans already.” Gavin said.

“That’s a shame, it’s always a laugh when her and Turney get pissed and argue”

Lindsay with two teasing fingers scissoring into Meg, refusing to do anything  _ but _ tease. Meg moaning as that tension built but wasn’t getting enough to push her over, until she finally snapped at Lindsay to put her mouth to good use.

“Maybe next time you’re in we’ll have more time.”

And maybe by the time Gavin was back he could think about Michael and Lindsay without thinking about sleeping with them.

The week was over before Gavin really knew it, almost like he blinked and then he was sitting in the airport parking lot hugging Meg and promising to call once he was settled.

The flight back to England, because he really couldn’t call it home anymore, was made a little better by his upgraded seat and the fact that Dan was also on the flight seven rows back. A little better, but it was still a fourteen hour flight that gave him more time to think and meditate than he would have liked.

Gavin knew he liked Michael and Lindsay, they were his best friends after all. Gavin also knew he loved Meg, she was one of the best things to have ever happened to him. What he wasn’t as sure about was whether or not he might love Michael and Lindsay. Was he letting the sex cloud the muddy waters of platonic affection or were those feelings real?

He figured it was safe assuming that if they were real they weren’t returned, at least not the way Gavin was feeling them. People generally felt one of two things when they  _ really  _ got to know Gavin: affection or annoyance -- Meg, and those few relationships he had before her, being the strange exceptions.

There was a traitorous part of his mind that reminded him that absence was supposed to make the heart grow fonder. It was hard to be much more absent than across an entire ocean, but if what they felt for him was nothing more than platonic affection than a growing fondness didn’t much matter for shite.

He wondered if Michael and Lindsay would visit Meg while he was gone. Then couldn’t figure out why the idea made him feel an ache in his chest. He didn’t think it was jealousy. Gavin didn’t get jealous, normally, because what was the point of it. He wasn’t going to begrudge Meg for having friends, that was ridiculous and it was just as ridiculous to feel weird about her meeting up with them just cause Gavin wasn’t there.

Though he figured Meg didn’t sleep with most of her friends, so maybe there was a little difference.

Not that that was the reason he felt like this, at least he didn’t think it was. It’s not like Meg would  _ do  _ anything when he wasn’t there. At least he didn’t think she would. They hadn’t really talked about boundaries, if they would change when Gavin was away or if things were changing back now that Lazer Team filming was over -- after all that had been the only rule in place, no sex til the movie was done.

When the woman with the drink trolley came around Gavin ordered something strong enough to make Geoff proud.

He took a large drink as he tried to remind himself that he was being ridiculous.

This was Meg, who made sure he was comfortable with what they were doing every step of the way and who had always put consent ahead of everything else, she wasn’t going to do anything without at least saying something to Gavin first.

Like the psychic he half expected she was, Meg texted him right as he was settling into bed.

He didn’t bother to respond, let her ringing phone act as the answer that her message had been received instead.

Gavin saw a glimpse of Meg’s face, then a swirling vortex of colors with the clattering sound of a phone being adjusted and fingers brushing over the mic. Meg’s face came back into focus a moment later with a bright smile, now that’d she’d settled in to talk, and Smee in her arms.

The soft glimmer in Meg’s eyes only warmed as Gavin greeted her and then the cat in turn; and those worries he’d been having on the plane were gone.

“I miss you,” Meg said.

“I’ve not even been gone a day,” Gavin said even as his heart swelled a bit at her words.

“I always miss you when we aren’t together.”

“I miss you too,” he said, voice soft in its sincerity.

“I’m not the only one,” Meg said with a small smile on her face.

“I miss you too Smee,” Gavin cooed at the unimpressed looking cat.

Meg laughed, “Well him too, but that’s not who I meant.”

“Who’d you mean then?”

Meg rolled her eyes, “Michael and Lindsay, asshole. Unless you’re just asking cause you wanna hear them say it, cause in that case I can probably figure something out. Maybe we can do some other things for you too.”

“No,” Gavin said quickly, and at Meg’s surprised and confused look rushed to explain, “that’s okay, we’ll save it for when I get home.”

Her smile was back, “Whatever you say, Gavino baby.”

“You know how hard it is to find a time for the two of us to talk.”

“You can say you want me all to yourself, it’s okay,” she teased.

“Maybe I do,” Gavin countered.

“Or maybe you’re worried Michael will get so distracting making fun of those awful posters that we won’t get to anything fun.”

“Oh piss off!”

Meg giggled before saying, “Only someone with something to hide thinks they need to.”

“What kind of fortune cookie shit was that?” Gavin asked with a laugh, “And guess there was wasn’t there, ‘les I’ve been imagining Michael’s dick.”

“Well if you’re gonna be like  _ that, _ they were tacky and I can’t believe you admit to having them.”

“Well I  _ was  _ a teenage boy.”

Meg turned thoughtful, Gavin could see it in the set of her mouth and the cock of her head. “Well if you like it so much maybe Lindsay and I should replicate it. We’d make it artsy.”

“I know it’s hard to believe right now, but you do remember that I don’t live here, right?”

“Yeah, I know, but now I’m kinda into the idea. We could frame it and put it in the living room.”

“Christ, Turney.”

“What you don’t like it? Maybe not the living room.”

“I’m going to bed,” Gavin said, the need to be out of this conversation sudden and immediate before Meg got the chance to escalate things.

“Fine,” Meg said, “goodnight, spoilsport, love you.”

“Love you, Turney.”

He fell back into his bed with a sigh as his phone went black, taking a second to plug it in to charge for the night before laying it on his bedside table. The problem was.

Well, what was the problem.

In the daytime, those times it managed to capture his attention -- like on the plane just this afternoon -- it seemed so complicated. Not a problem, but a list of things that weren’t right or wouldn’t work. Things that when Gavin thought about them for too long sent him spiraling down a rabbit hole of anxiety and self-doubt.

Here though, as Gavin was laying on top of the blankets in his childhood bedroom with just his bedside lamp to cast a dim light and fresh off the phone with Meg, it suddenly became surprisingly clear.

The problem was it was too easy.

Too easy to imagine Meg convincing Lindsay of what a good idea it’d be to recreate that stupid poster.

Far too easy to imagine them actually doing it -- not like the thing had been particularly risque, he’d only been fourteen when he’d put the thing up.

Easy to imagine Meg talking him into taking the picture, cause what better time would there be to put his camera to good use.

He knew Meg looked good in black and white, and it was easy to feel just as certain that Lindsay would to.

The two of them laying in Gavin’s bed with the sheets rucked up messily around them. The light shining in from the window casting a soft glow around them as they wrapped their arms around each other. The two of them in matching states of undress, undershirts and their panties, with open smiles on their face. Swapping kisses with the shutter of the camera and giggling softly to each other every time the pulled away. The intimacy of the scene somehow even greater when the two weren't kissing, just from the obvious love and care.

It would be hard to pick the best shot from the two of them. They would all be excellent, perfect, in the way that Lindsay and Meg were together; but Meg would have a favorite. She was good at finding the shots that had something extra to them. One where you would see Lindsay's hand cupping the back of Meg's neck, tangled in her hair the way Meg liked, and her other hand straying down a little lower than it had in the rest of the photos. It would have been from the end of the shoot where Meg had started to tease, Her hands straying when she knew the camera wasn't watching, and then back where they were supposed to be. Meg with a small smile teasing through even as she was kissing Lindsay softly, her hand gently resting on Lindsay's waist like she was holding her in bed.

It would be art, that would be easy to decide.

He knew where Meg would want it. Framed, in something plain and black so that the focus was on what was inside, and hung on the wall just beside the entertainment center where Meg had been insisting for weeks that something was missing.

It had been a joke. One at Gavin's expense, but it was one that was easy to watch turn into something more.

Easy to imagine Michael walking through the front door, keys still in hand, fresh from a run and glancing at it for a second almost like a ritual before dropping onto the couch beside Gavin. Imagine Meg showing it off with something like pride on her face whenever someone asked about her unusual statement piece. Lindsay getting embarrassed but happily joking that she hadn't been warned about what she'd been walking into when she started dating the two of them.

That was the problem.

It was all too easy.

The word  _ dating  _ came too easily to his mind and it felt too accurate.

It was the kind of word that led to nothing good, nothing easy.

It was the kind of word that led to accidentally saying something that might be heard.

Something that could end up with Gavin slipping up.

It was easy to imagine saying 'I love you' to Michael just because he'd done something nice, easier to imagine accidentally saying it during a let's play, something that wouldn't be easy to laugh off like most of their joking in game flirtations. It was easy to imagine thoughtlessly dropping a kiss to Lindsay's cheek like he did so often with Meg, all it would take was Lindsay dropping lunch off on his desk and getting too close when he wasn't thinking.

Easy wasn't good.

Easy meant feelings, real feelings. This wasn't confusing platonic affection with something more, this  _ was _ something more.

Gavin had had the feeling before, but this time it settled with more insistence in his gut, this wasn't something that he could let continue.

He was going to mess up.

Something was going to slip out, and he couldn't do that to Meg.

This would have to end when he got back, an easy face to face conversation about putting an end to the extracurricular part of their relationship. That would be easy enough. He could look Michael and Lindsay in the eye and put an end to this, like an adult, and not over the phone like some prick even though there was a part of him that thought that would be even easier.

Cause it wasn't like he could  _ see _ Michael and Lindsay. That wasn't something that would come easy.

Fuck easy, that wasn't something that would come at all. The Joneses hadn't signed up to  _ date _ anyone, well anyone else anyway. They were happily married and more in love with each other than most couples Gavin knew. They were looking for a good time, someone who could keep up with them in a way that would let everybody have a little fun. Competition had always been a staple of their friendship, and maybe they'd been letting that feeling that good competition created bleed into other things for a while.

It was time to unblur those lines though. Things had finally clicked for him, and Gavin was sure that this wasn't something he could do anymore, not without the consequences that always came from competition.

The game had been fun while it lasted, but there was always a loser. Turns out Gavin hadn't been able to keep up.


	14. Chapter 14

When the paperwork finally cleared, and Gavin could go home legally again, he was on the first flight to Austin he could book.

The flight came with a bone deep exhaustion that Gavin could feel from the slump of his shoulders all the way down to the ache in his legs as he watched the carousel go round waiting for his luggage to emerge.

There was something about being back in Austin, being home, that made the complaining others and the sound of a crying child in the distance and that tiredness he could feel in his whole body that much more bearable.

He had made himself stay awake until his flight took off and even once he was in the air Gavin had only allowed himself a few hours of sleep before forcing himself awake again. There was a part of him that regretted that decision now, as he yawned so hard his jaw popped and searched for luggage that he hoped would be coming around soon. But he didn’t have time for jetlag, the trip home was always worse for it than the trip to England, and the easiest way to avoid it was just to not let it happen.

Gavin almost missed his bag coming around the carousel as most of his energy went into keeping his eyes open and himself upright, but between one extended blink and the next he caught sight of it right before it passed him by. With his bag in hand he left the airport, shielding his face as the early morning light stabbed at his eyes.

The car he called was already waiting for him out front, and he quickly tossed his bag into the back -- not caring if he scuffed up the upholstery -- and slid in behind it. Thankfully, he and his driver reached an unspoken agreement that it was too early for any conversation to take place.

The ride took place in silence, Gavin doing his best to keep from nodding off in the backseat now that he had the steady rumble of the car around him. He must have failed, when between one blink and the next Gavin found himself sitting parked outside his house. Their goodbyes were as brief as the rest of their conversation had been and Gavin slipped out of the car and up to his door.

He left his shoes and suitcase by the door, knowing even as he did that Meg would give him grief for it later but he was far to exhausted to care or to carry his things up the stairs. It was still early so he was careful to slip up the stairs while making as little noise as possible. He pushed open the door to the bedroom and was greeted by two heads popping up to watch him sneak in.

Smee, watching with a regal feline disinterest from his spot in the curve of Meg’s knees, and Penny who looked at him with her usual distaste before shuffling just the smallest bit closer to Meg’s side of the bed. As gently as he could, Gavin peeled back the blanket and slipped in beside Meg, too tired to care that he was still in the sweats he’d flown in. He wasn’t awake long, now that he had finally stopped moving, and Gavin finally drifted off to the sound of Meg’s even breathing.

Waking up came in stages. It was a gentle brush of a hand down his arm that swept away the dream he’d been having. A shift of the mattress beside him that dragged his attention to the world around him. A soft kiss to his jaw brought his mind to a hazy focus. But it was the hands pushing down on his hips and a weight shifting on top of him that had his eyes blinking open.

“Good morning,“ Gavin said.

Meg smiled warmly, “You sure are a sight for sore eyes.”

“Missed you too, Turney, though this is a wake up I could get used to.”

Her smile turned into a slight pout even as she leaned down to kiss him warmly. “You should have told me you were flying home, I would have gotten up to come get you.” She pulled back to shot him a sly grin, “I could have given you a very warm welcome.”

Gavin laughed as he cupped the back of her neck to pull Meg down for another kiss. “Much as I love thinking of all the public decency laws you’d break, no you wouldn’t’ve”

She laughed, a sound that shook her whole body where it was laying on top of him, reminding Gavin just how much he missed being able to see and touch her. “You’re right,” she said, “but Michael likes getting up at fuck off early in the morning, he could have picked you up.”

Something nasty curled up in his chest at that, he’d only been home and awake for a few minutes and already he wasn’t enough. “I’m here,” he said, “how I got here doesn’t matter.”

Her smile suck shyly back onto her face, “I guess that’s true, and I still need to show you how happy I am that you are.”

Meg cocked her head letting that smile turn into a camera practiced smirk. Her weight was still there, warm and familiar on top of him and Gavin was more than willing to let her do whatever she wanted to him.

She kissed him gently at first, soft, as much for the novelty of being able to do it again. Then again, slow, with a heat to it that he could feel all the way down to his toes. She was unhurried but there was an agency as Meg slid a hand into his hair and used her other to move his hands so they were cupping her ass.

All he could do is hold on as Meg took control. There was a heat building between them as Meg took what she wanted. Her unhurried kisses were growing sloppy and wet and the hand in his hair tightened roughly. He could feel the slow roll of her hips, grinding that was probably doing more for her in her panties than it was for him in his thick sweatpants.

Meg was working herself up. He could see it in the soft gasps she would let out when he angled his hips up to meet her. It was in the hard grip she had on his hair and on his bicep. How she only let go to move his hand so he was cupping her breast under her cut off shirt, he rolled her nipple between his fingers and dragged out another gasp from her.

“I need more,” she said, a soft breathlessness to her words.

“Tell me what you need, Love.”

She said it like a moan as she ground down on him, “Lindsay!”

“What?”

She kept going like he hadn’t said a thing, “Oh Lindsay, she’s fucking useless with her tongue, but her hands! I need,” she rolled off of him tugging at his arm to try and pull him over with her.

She barely noticed when he didn’t follow.

“I need more!”

“Why?” Gavin asked.

Meg groaned, “Because her fingers are magic and last time we had her she did things I didn’t even know were possible.”

“Why?” he asked again.

“Why what, baby?”

“Why the fuck aren’t I enough?”

This was what he had been afraid of.

The snap.

The shout.

The silence.

Meg’s wide eyes as she looked over at him like the ceiling had fallen down around her ears.

“Gavin, baby, I-”

The silence.

The dam breaking.

The flood.

“Why aren’t  _ we _ enough? Why is it that we can’t have a conversation anymore without Michael or Lindsay coming up? Why the hell aren't I enough for you anymore?" There was a tightness in his throat and a heat behind his eyes and Meg was looking at him with wide eyes.

"Gavin, you- of course you're enough? What are you talking about?"

It was like he couldn't hear her, what she was saying washed over him but the soft words were like a water hose trying to put out a forest fire, completely ineffective. "How can you sit there and say that to me when you just asked for Lindsay because I wasn't good enough to fuck you?"

"It's not because you aren't good enough? Gavin, what the fuck are you talking about? It was just something fun, we've been doing this thing for months. If it was something that bothered you why the hell haven't you said something before now?"

"Because it doesn't bother me!"

Meg was working herself into the same froth that Gavin already felt himself in. Jumping up from the bed so she could pace like a caged animal at the foot of the bed. "Well it sure doesn't fucking seem like it Gavin." As she shouted it was like the wind fell out of her sails, the anger that had built so suddenly just gone from her body. "Just talk to me. Tell me what's going on in your head, what's bothering you?"

"Nothing is bothering me."

"Then wha-?"

"That's what is bothering me."

"Gavin," Meg said, the anger turned immediately into confusion, "you know that doesn't make any sense, right? You've got to give me a little bit more than that. Please, I really want to understand."

Gavin groaned, a frustrated sound so different from the groans that had been filling the room earlier that it could hardly be considered in the same category. Meg might want to understand, but now as months of frustration that he had been repressing and ignoring had become this jumbled mess of emotions in his brain that he wasn't sure if he could untangle for Meg no matter how much he wanted to. 

"There isn't anything that's bothering me."

"That's what you've said baby, but-"

"That's what's bothering me. I don't know." He sighed. "Why the hell aren't  _ we _ enough anymore?”

“Is that what you really think?” Meg was sitting at the foot of the bed now, not able to support herself anymore now that the fight had gone out of her.

“I don’t know,” Gavin admitted. “Maybe we should end this.”


	15. Chapter 15

“No.”

Meg was on her feet again. A fire in her eyes that Gavin didn't think he had ever seen before. "No," she repeated, even more insistent this time. "You aren't just going to back out of this because you're  _ scared _ ." She was angry now, and he realized now that this was the same Meg who had, alight with righteous indignation at being stood up, demanded that he was going to hang out with her. "If there's a real fucking problem then fine, but we're going to talk about this.  _ Really _ talk about this. Before I'm going to let you leave fucking anything."

"This isn't something you can force me to do, Turney," Gavin said, contrary in the way he wasn't during that first date of theirs.

"I'm not trying to force you to do anything but talk, Gavin! If you can explain to me what the hell your problem is then I'm more than fucking happy to let you bail on whatever you want. You can stop sleeping with Michael and Lindsay, you can break up with me, you can quit Achievement Hunter and move back to England for all I care. But you are going to explain what's going on with you."

"Maybe nothing's going on with me."

"Oh fuck off, there is something going on with you," she paused as if she was finally coming to a realization, "there's been something going on with you for months. Oh, Gavin."

There was pity there. There was pity and he could hear it.

"I don't need your pity."

She was soft again, but she seemed nervous. Maybe she thought he would actually break up with her. Or maybe that realization that she just had was that she wanted him to. "I'm not pitying you, Gavin. I'm just mad at myself."

"Why the hell are you mad at yourself."

"I'm mad at all of us, this wasn't how this was supposed to go."

"And how the hell was any of this supposed to go, Turney. Can you really tell me that you went into all of this with a plan?"

"Tell me how you want this to go."

"What?"

"Tell me how you want this to go. Tell me what you're thinking."

"What I'm thinking?"

"You heard me, what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking I don't know what's going on anymore. I'm thinking that I'm not sure I ever did. I think I'm wondering why I can't stop thinking about Michael and Lindsay. And I'm thinking that there has to be something wrong with me because why the hell am I always thinking about Michael and Lindsay. I have you. I love you, I do, Turney. But I think I love them too. And how is that even right, it's selfish. We were just having a bit of fun, right? Gotta beat Michael and Lindsay, can't have them being more adventurous than us; and I've gone and ruined it.

"I just can't keep doing it. I can't keep hanging out with them, and sleeping with them, or doing anything with them and having this hanging over my head. I can't live with this feeling, like I'm dating them when I'm not and I can't. I just want things to be back to normal. Is that even possible anymore, Turney?"

"Oh, Gavin, baby. This is my fault, this is our fault. I can't believe we let this happen."

"Your fault? Let this happen? Meg, this isn't anyone's fault, it's just broken. Or maybe it is someone's fault but if it is it's mine."

"That's just it, that's why it's our fault."

She sat down with a sigh burying her head in her hands before pushing them through her hair in a gesture of nervous anxiety. "Turney, tell me what is going on."

She laughed, just the once, a sharp, surprised bark like she hated that they were having this conversation as much as he did. "We are dating," she said, the laughter still in her voice like it that was the punchline to some joke Gavin had missed the setup for.

"I know we're dating, Turney, that's why this shite with Michael and Lindsay is such a damn mess."

"No.  _ we _ are dating. Us. The four of us. But somehow we've ended up on different pages and it's all falling to shit, and it's definitely my fault that it's happening."

This had to be a dream. This had to be a dream, Gavin had to have fallen asleep on the plane despite how hard he tried not to, because he could feel the floor falling out from under him now. They were dating. They were dating according to Meg and he had to be dreaming. And if he was dreaming this might just be a nightmare.

Because what did he say to that, and he had to respond with the way Meg was watching him now.

They were dating?

They were dating.

"Since when?"

"I don't know, Gavin. It was just a natural transition," she laughed again, bitter and self-deprecating, "or maybe it wasn't so natural since you missed it, not that that's your fault, maybe I’m the only one who thought - it doesn’t matter. At least since that night at the movies, or maybe that was our first official date. I just thought we were on the same page. I swear we called it a date that night."

They were dating, and Gavin had missed it.

“Do Michael and Lindsay know?”

"What?" her voice was soft and slightly muffled where her face was still held in her hands, her fingers just barely clutching her hair like it was a lifeline.

"Michael and Lindsay, do they know?"

"Yeah," she said, "I mean I think they do, but I thought you did too. Michael had been calling them dates, but that doesn't mean he meant it. I - it just felt right didn't it, having them like that, didn't it."

"Ask them," Gavin demanded, and maybe it wasn't his place to be making demands like that. But he finally felt like he might have a handle on what was going on, like he might have finally caught up to what was going on around him even if that came at the expense of Meg who seemed to be less and less sure of herself with every passing second.

"You want me to ask them," she asked incredulously. "What you want me to text Michael and just ask him what he thinks is up?"

She made it sound like it was ridiculous, but it was pretty much exactly what he wanted to do. 

They were so far from where they started it seemed unbelievable, and for all the talk of boundaries that had taken place when things were just sexual they hadn’t talked about them again once things started getting serious. The emotional boundaries of their relationship were much less defined and he didn't see why they couldn't show all of their cards now. He didn't see why they  _ shouldn't _ drag Michael and Lindsay into the same angst that they were fighting with right now.

“Yeah,” he said, “I think that’s what we should do.”

She looked over at him, her hands still cupped in front of her, like she couldn’t believe that he was being serious. It was the kind of look that usually came right before some kind of action.

And just as he was thinking that her face set with a decision made. “Fine. Fine, that’s what I’ll do.” She stretched up the bed reaching to grab her phone from her side table.

Her fingers brushed the corner of it and she wiggled it closer and closer in the awkward way of someone too stubborn to move any further to just pick it up. She sat back up when she managed to finally get it in her hand, typing silently for a few seconds.

“There.” She shoved her phone in his face so he could see that blue bubble that said ‘What are we’ had just been sent to Angry Boy.

He could also see those three dots dancing in the corner as Michael typed his response.

There was a ding as that new message came in and Meg had her phone flipped back so she could read it.

“Team winners,” she read aloud, “how does an emoji manage to look so smug.”

Gavin couldn’t help his laugh, “It’s Michael.”

The idea of an amused smile flirted with her face before she looked back to her phone to answer him. “No, what are we,” she said slowly as she typed out each word.

She was getting frustrated at Michael’s lack of understanding or maybe it was just a transfer of some of her frustration with herself.

And, like he could sense some of that frustration, Meg’s phone started to ring in her hand with a call from Michael.

“What,” she answered. Flipping the call to speaker as was their habit when they had Michael or Lindsay on the phone.

“So is waking up on the wrong side of the bed what made you so fucking existential this morning?” Michael asked, amusement plain in his voice and if he wasn’t careful that amusement was going to drag out even more of Meg’s annoyance.

“Just answer the question, Jones.”

“Fucking Christ, Turney, I don’t know what you want to hear. You’re my bird, Gav’s my boi, Lindsay’s my boo, that’s what  _ you _ are  _ to _ me. You can use whatever words you want but it’s what you’re feeling that matters.”

“Yeah, cause we like love you and shit,” Lindsay’s voice calls out, it sounded far away and Gavin could imagine the two of them. Michael carrying his phone around with him as he moved around the room -- it was early enough still that it might be the kitchen, Michael making a protein shake or something to fill him up after his workout -- Lindsay sitting off to the side and watching.

“Wow,” Michael said, “I can’t believe you would steal straight from our wedding vows like that.” Gavin could hear Lindsay giggling, light and airy, and he could tell it was getting louder like Michael was moving from where ever he was to get closer to her. “I had to wait til our wedding day to hear you say you love me ‘and shit’ and now you’re just throwing it out.”

Lindsay was still giggling, and it was a bubbly sound that Gavin could feel in his chest that seemed to lift the mood of the room. “What can I say,” she said, “they’re better at romance than you.”

“I’ll show you fucking romance,” Michael said, a strange threat that even over the phone managed to turn the attention back to Meg and Gavin. “Let’s do dinner tonight,” he said, “Gav’s back right or are you all existential cause you’re tired of the empty bed.”

Gavin wasn’t sure what that meant, unless that was Michael’s indirect way of offering to fill the empty space. He decided to ignore it in favor of saying, “Hi, boi.”

That seemed to be enough for him, “Right, so let's get dinner.”

“What would that be?” Meg asked, she seemed less anxious now that she'd heard what Michael had to say -- and Gavin was feeling a little less anxious himself -- but it was clear she was still waiting to hear something.

“I figured Gav could pick since he's been living on shit like beans on fucking toast, but if you've got a craving.”

“But what would that be?” Meg repeated.

“What is with you and the twenty questions, Turney,” Michael asked with faux anger, “we'd be out, having a time. What do you want to hear.”

“The polyam posse rides again,” Lindsay cheered.

“Ew, no,” Michael said, and even though Gavin wasn’t sure if what Lindsay said meant what he thought it did his heart stopped in his chest at the idea of Michael’s rejection, “there’s got to be a better name for it than that. Check tumblr I’m sure they’ve mavin-ed our names into something that doesn’t make us sound like a bunch of shitty fucking cowboys.”

“So tonight would be a date,” Gavin asked, the first real contribution he’d made to their conversation so far.

“Well yeah,” Michael said and Gavin could hear him sit down, the way his voice changed like he was talking to Lindsay more than them when he added, “what the fuck else would it be.”

“Are you all alright?” Lindsay asked. She sounded closer now and Gavin wondered if there was something instinctual there that made the four of them want to get closer; something that made Michael move closer to Lindsay and had made Meg scoot up the bed and close that space between her and Gavin. He wondered if they had Michael’s phone held close between them like that would somehow get rid of the distance between them.

“Yeah,” Michael said, “you usually aren’t this fucking weird.”

“Is it a wording thing,” Lindsay asked suddenly, almost on top of Michael, “cause we didn’t really talk about it.”

“Well things were working, why the fuck would we need to?” Michael asked unknowingly echoing Meg’s same thoughts from earlier.

“Conversation is still important, asshole,” Lindsay said.

An argument would start soon if one of them didn’t step in, something Meg was thankfully as aware of as Gavin was. “It’s fine,” she said, “we’re fine. It’s just,” she paused and the silence managed to fill both rooms with its weight, “it’s just been a while. We just wanted to talk.”

Michael snorted, but the humor behind it felt fake and ironic, “I just want to talk,  _ those  _ are words that  _ never  _ spell fucking disaster.”

He could hear the dull slap that had to be Lindsay hitting whatever part of Michael was closest to her, “Michael's being a dick for some reason, but seriously are we cool?”

Meg laughed, and with it Gavin felt like the mood had finally lifted, “Michael's always a dick, so yeah we're cool.” She shared a look with Gavin looking to confirm, and for once he felt like he could nod without it being a lie.

“Your words wound, Turney. Where's my boi to stick up for me?” Michael asked.

“Well you have been a real mingy prick, Michael,” Gavin said.

“So fucking glad I'm getting all the perks of dating you, Gavvy boi, you're making me blush with those sweet fucking nothings.”

“Come over here for dinner,” Meg said, “going out is work,” she looked to Gavin again a serious expression on her face like she was trying to read his mind, before she added, “and we just want to spend some time with you.”

“Al-right,” Michael said, fracturing the word with uncertainty. Gavin wondered if he still didn't believe Meg's insisting that they were okay. “We’ll be over in a couple hours.”

Meg said a quick bye as she hung up before she spun around on the bed, turning to face Gavin with a startling speed and a look of determination in her eye. “We still need to talk.”


	16. Chapter 16

And talk they did.

For hours they sat together and talked about communication and boundaries and how ‘if you're feeling upset or anxious about something in this relationship you have to tell me, Gavino I'm not a mind reader this won't work if we don't talk.’ 

That last one lasted most of the time.

Where Meg made him sit and tell her everything that he had worried about or thought about over the last few months.

Everything.

From the insecurities about not being good enough to the anxiety that he might be broken for wanting what he didn't know he already had. All of it.

And Meg listened to all of it. She listened as he vented, and when he finished and felt like he was completely wrung out and completely empty. Then Meg talked.

She answered all his worries point by point. She never said he was stupid for feeling a certain way, something he had been afraid of, really she spent a good amount of time apologizing that this was an anxiety he had in the first place. But more than anything else she made sure he knew she loved him and that his comfort was the thing that mattered even if that meant breaking things off with all of them.

By the time they finished it was late, well later, into the day. Meg made it clear in no uncertain terms that this was something they would be talking about more, before disappeared to start getting ready for their date.

As she left the room Gavin laid back down in their bed feeling emotionally drained but with a pleasant anticipation bubbling inside that he hadn’t felt in a while.

Date night, indeed.

The Joneses showed up on time, like they always did because Michael was an anal bastard, and for the first time in a while Gavin only felt excited to see them. Meg answered the door with Gavin close to her heels. While Meg grabbed Michael by the arm and tried to sweet talk him into helping her finish the last of dinner, Gavin took Lindsay by the hand and pulled her into a small dip before giving her a warm, familiar kiss and righting her again.

“Well damn Gavvy,” Michael said, both him and Meg watching him with amused looks, “are we all getting welcomes like that?”

“Cheeky Michael,” Gavin said as he cupped either side of Michael’s face and pulled him in to kiss the end of his nose.

Michael had a wide, goofy smile on his face as Gavin pulled away and as he caught sight of that elusive dimple Gavin wondered how he ever thought that this might not be real.

Meg had started moving toward the kitchen to finish the last of dinner while Gavin welcomed Michael and the three of them moved to follow her, drawn together like magnets now that they were in range of each other.

“So did ya miss us Gav, I really couldn’t tell.” Michael said.

“Gavin always misses us when we aren’t around, right?” Lindsay asked.

“Yeah I could tell by the way he was always calling us while he was gone.” Michael said and he sounded a little bitter underneath his teasing.

Meg spun around from the stove, using the wooden spoon in her hand to point at Michael while her other hand rested on her hip, a serious look on her face. “That’s something we all need to have a serious talk about,  _ later _ . Tonight let’s just eat and enjoy these bevs and celebrate being back together again.”

“Fuck yeah,” Michael said, “I’ll drink to that.”

“What won’t you drink to,” Meg asked.

“Real funny, smartass,” Michael said.

She blew him a cheeky kiss even as she started plating dinner.

Things were warm and pleasant and now that Gavin wasn’t worried that the rug was going to get pulled out from under him, he could really enjoy it. He could enjoy the feeling of Michael’s hand on his thigh and the smile on Lindsay’s face and the sound of Meg’s laugh as he told a story about Dan. The warm, floaty feeling of being on the right side of tipsy with people you loved and seeing that happy flush mirrored on their faces.

They moved from the table to the sofa, a movie playing somewhere in the background as they all pretended to watch but were mostly spending the time trying to readjust to being together like this again. 

To no one's surprise, it was Meg who made the first move. 

With her fingers still tangled together with Gavin’s she let her other hand drift so that it was behind Michael’s head. Her fingers teased the sensitive skin of his neck and played with his hair before she finally got him to lean down into a kiss. Gavin and Lindsay both watched, that nervous, jealous feeling Gavin used to get at times like this gone and replaced by a hot feeling of anticipation.

Lindsay’s finger came up to brush his cheek drawing his attention away from the growing intensity of Michael and Meg. She had shifted closer and as her hand hovered so it was barely brushing his skin she asked, “Is this okay?”

His answering nod was enough. 

Lindsay’s touch became more firm and sure as she drew him into a deep kiss. Meg’s hand moved from his to tangle in his shirt as she and Michael got more and more wrapped up in each other. Both of Lindsay’s hands were on him, one at the back of his neck holding him close and the other at his arm right beside where Meg was reaching back to clutch at him. Lindsay was kissing down his jaw and neck, punctuating soft, dry kisses with those sharp nips that he’d come to love.

She quickly had him worked up enough that he was gasping and he could hear Meg and Michael were in similar states. “Why don’t,” he gasped as Lindsay bit down on a particularly sensitive spot, “why don’t we take this upstairs?”

“Yes,” Michael agreed instantly in a breathless hiss that sent a bolt of heat down to his toes.

“You sure, Gavino,” Meg asked, just as breathless.

“Upstairs,” Gavin repeated, more insistent this time.

They moved with a practiced ease now, moving upstairs with haste but careful not to trip over each other. They took their time stripping each other out of their clothes, getting distracted every now and then as they pressed kisses to newly exposed skin, taking their time in ways that they hadn’t before now.

“This is almost fucking romantic, Turney, let me serenade you before we make love,” Michael said.

“Shut up and kiss me so I don’t have to listen to your shitty lines,” Meg said even as she smiled.

The time passed after that with gentle touching and soft words; and even though Michael had been teasing about making love, this had more feeling in it than any of the other times they had taken each other to bed. There was real feeling there now.

Later, as they were laying beside each other sweaty, sated, and a little out of breath, there was a weight in the room.

They were all waiting on the what now.

Waiting to see who would speak first.

“So,” Lindsay said, “is it okay if we stay the night.”

Gavin felt a shyness creep up on him despite how sure he now felt of his answer. “I think it’s okay if you stay forever.”

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has been over a year in the making and I can't believe I'm finally putting it out. Based on [RT Podcast 302](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uYZC0bGIlI). You can follow me [here](https://www.formosusiniquis.tumblr.com) where you'll find updates to this fic and others.


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